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How to pronounce sword

Sword is pronounced SORD in American English and SAWD in British English. It has one syllable and the w is silent, so it rhymes with board and lord.

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  • 1 syllable
  • Stress on SORD
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

sword

One syllable

noun · a weapon with a long, sharp blade

  1. SORDsɔːrd (stressed)
  • US /sɔːrd/SORD Recorded voice
  • UK /sɔːd/SAWD Your device’s voice

IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. The recording is American English.

Sword, sound by sound

Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.

US American English/sɔːrd/

  1. SORDstressed

    • /s/as in see
    • /ɔː/as in saw
    • /r/as in red
    • /d/as in did

UK British English/sɔːd/

  1. SAWDstressed

    • /s/as in see
    • /ɔː/as in saw
    • /d/as in did

Say sword yourself

Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes sword, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.

Tip. The w is silent. Say SORD (US) or SAWD (UK), like board with an S.

Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.

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sword

    Common sword pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say SORD.

    • NotSWORD

      Saying the w. It sits in the spelling only: start with s and go straight to the vowel.

    • NotSOHRD

      Using the oh of go. The vowel is the or of board.

    • NotSOD

      Making the vowel short. Keep it long, like the vowel in board.

    Sword in a sentence

    Hear each one, slow it down, then say it. Words change a little when they join others, so practise them in sentences too.

    • The knight drew his sword and stepped forward.

    • There is an old sword on the wall.

    • She learned to fight with a wooden sword.

    Is the w in sword silent?

    Yes. The w is silent in sword, just as it is in answer and two. The word comes from Old English sweord, and people said the w then. In the 1600s it dropped out of speech, and the spelling kept it.

    The vowel is the long or sound of board. Americans say the r after the vowel, SORD. Most British speakers do not, so it is SAWD, which is close to the word sawed.

    Do not put a w in front of the or, and do not say sord like sod. Keep the lips round for the long vowel, then end with a clear d.

    Words that sound like sword

    Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.

    More words with silent letters

    All 170 difficult words

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