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How to pronounce whistle

Whistle is pronounced WIS-l, with two syllables and the stress on the first. The t is silent, so it sounds like wissle. American and British English agree.

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  • 2 syllables
  • Stress on WIS
  • US and UK IPA
  • Checked in Cambridge and Oxford

whistle

Two syllables, stress on the first

noun · a high sound made by blowing air through your lips, or a tool that makes that sound

  1. WISwɪs (stressed)
  2. ləl
  • US /ˈwɪs.əl/WIS-l Recorded voice
  • UK /ˈwɪs.əl/WIS-l Your device’s voice

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

Whistle, sound by sound

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

USUK American and British English/ˈwɪs.əl/

  1. WISstressed

    • /w/as in wet
    • /ɪ/as in sit
    • /s/as in see

  2. l

    • /ə/as in about
    • /l/as in leg

Say whistle yourself

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

Tip. The t is silent. Say WIS-l, like whiss + l. The ending is a light l.

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

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whistle

    Common whistle pronunciation mistakes

    What people often say instead, and how to fix it. Say WIS-l.

    • NotWIS-tl

      Saying the t because it is written. Go from s straight to the light l.

    • NotWIZ-l

      Voicing the s. In whistle it is a plain s, as in sit.

    • NotWEES-l

      Making the vowel long. It is the short i of sit.

    Whistle 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 referee blew the whistle to stop the game.

    • He started to whistle a happy song.

    • Can you hear the kettle whistle?

    Why is the t in whistle silent?

    Words ending in -stle usually have a silent t: whistle, castle, thistle, bristle, bustle and rustle. Say the s, then go straight to the light l.

    The word comes from Old English hwistlian, to whistle. The ending -le was once a full syllable, and the t between s and l gradually dropped out of speech. The spelling kept it.

    Some speakers, mostly in parts of the US and Scotland, still say wh as a breathy hw. That is a regional choice, and the usual form is a plain w. Say w, then a short i, then s, and finish with a light l.

    Words that sound like whistle

    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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