Word stress: which syllable stands out?

In a word with several syllables, one usually stands out most: TA-ble, ba-NA-na. Stress helps listeners recognise the word, even when every individual sound is clear.

These examples follow General American English. Other accents can differ.

Hear a stronger beat

A stressed syllable is often longer, clearer and more prominent in pitch; it may also be louder. Stress is a combination of cues. Shouting a syllable alone will not make a word sound natural.

Unstressed syllables are often shorter, and their vowels may become /ə/, the relaxed vowel called schwa. In banana /bəˈnænə/, the middle vowel is clear and the other two are weak.

The IPA mark /ˈ/ goes before the syllable with primary stress. A lower mark /ˌ/ shows secondary stress in longer words. Capitals below mark the strongest syllable; the hyphens are learning aids, not spelling.

Follow stress through a word family

Word	Strongest syllable	What changes?
table	TA-ble	First of two syllables.
banana	ba-NA-na	Second of three syllables.
photograph	PHO-to-graph	Stress starts on the first syllable.
photographer	pho-TOG-ra-pher	Stress moves to the second syllable.
photographic	pho-to-GRAPH-ic	Stress moves to the third syllable.

Learn the stress again when you learn a related word. Adding a suffix does not always move stress, and there is no single rule that predicts every word.

Sometimes grammar changes the stress

Compare a RE-cord (a noun) with to re-CORD (a verb): “She broke the world record.” / “Please record the message.”

Several two-syllable noun/verb pairs work this way, but many do not. Check a dictionary and listen to the word in context. The word-stress game uses full sentences for these pairs so you can tell which meaning is intended.

Practise with one tap per syllable

Listen once, then replay and tap once for each syllable.
Make the stressed tap stronger. Say the whole word with the same rhythm.
Put the word in a short sentence and keep its word stress, without making every syllable equally strong.

Which syllable is strongest in banana, photograph and photographer?

Show the answers and reasons

ba-NA-na: second syllable.: Banana has its primary stress on the second spoken syllable; count syllables rather than letters. Read the guide
PHO-to-graph: first syllable.: Photograph has its primary stress on the first syllable. Read the guide
pho-TOG-ra-pher: second syllable.: Adding the ending changes the primary-stress position in this word family. Read the guide

Practise hearing word stress

For stress that can shift inside a phrase, read fourteen or forty?

Explore all pronunciation guides