vase
noun · a container for flowers
- VAYSveɪs (stressed)
- VAHZvɑːz (stressed)
- US /veɪs/VAYS Recorded voice
- UK /vɑːz/VAHZ Your device’s voice
Also said: US /veɪz/ or /vɑːz/.
How to pronounce vase
Vase is usually pronounced VAYS in American English, rhyming with face, and VAHZ in British English, rhyming with cars. It is one syllable. Americans also say VAYZ, and some say VAHZ.
- 1 syllable
- Stress on VAYS
- US and UK IPA
- Checked in Cambridge and Oxford
IPA checked in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Both dictionaries also list /veɪz/ for American English, and Cambridge lists /vɑːz/ too. The recording is American English.
Vase, sound by sound
Each sound in the IPA, with a word you already know that has it.
US American English/veɪs/
VAYSstressed
- /v/as in van
- /eɪ/as in day
- /s/as in see
UK British English/vɑːz/
VAHZstressed
- /v/as in van
- /ɑː/as in father
- /z/as in zoo
Say vase yourself
Press the microphone and say it once. Your browser writes down what it hears: if it writes vase, you were understood. If it writes another word, you see which sound changed.
Tip. Americans usually say VAYS, rhyming with face. British speakers say VAHZ, rhyming with cars.
Record yourself and play it next to our recording: the quickest way to hear a difference.
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Common vase pronunciation mistakes
What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say VAYS.
Not
VAH-zehSaying the final e. It is silent: the word is one syllable.
Not
VASSUsing the a of cat, so it rhymes with gas. Use ay (US) or ah (UK).
Not
BAYSSaying B for V, a common habit for Spanish speakers. Touch your top teeth to your lower lip for V.
Vase 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.
She put the roses in a glass vase.
Careful, that vase was my grandmother's.
We bought a blue vase at the market.
Is vase pronounced VAYS or VAHZ?
Both, depending on where you are. Vase came into English from French, which took it from the Latin vas, a vessel. English speakers have said it in several ways over the years; older forms such as VAWZ are now obsolete.
Today the split is mainly between countries. British English uses VAHZ, close to the French. American English mostly uses VAYS, following the English spelling pattern in base and case. Cambridge and Oxford both list VAYZ for the US too, and Cambridge also lists VAHZ.
So in the US, VAYS is the safe choice; in the UK, say VAHZ. Both end in a single, short syllable.
Words that sound like vase
Rhymes and words that share its tricky sound. Open any of them in the checker and say it.
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