How to pronounce

Aluminum pronunciation

/ə.ˈlu.mə.nəm/
uh-LOO-muh-nuhm

Aluminum has 4 syllables. The stress is on the second syllable, "loo". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.

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Accent

Press record, say "aluminum" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.

Aluminum syllables

Aluminum has 4 syllables: uh-LOO-muh-nuhm.

  1. uhə
  2. LOOlu
  3. muh
  4. nuhmnəm

Uh-LOO-min-um, four syllables, stress on "loo". The American spelling drops the second i and the syllable that goes with it; the stress moves forward as a result.

Sounds to watch

The l sound

Touch the tongue tip to the ridge behind your top teeth. At the end of a syllable the l is darker and the back of the tongue rises.

Weak syllables

The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.

Aluminum in a sentence

  • Aluminum cans are the easiest thing in the bin to recycle.
  • The boat has an aluminum hull that never needs painting.

Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.

What Speakeroo listens for

These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.

  • Stress placed on the wrong syllableMake the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
  • Vowel influenced too strongly by spellingLearn the sound using IPA and audio rather than pronouncing every written vowel.
  • Final consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
  • Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
  • Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.

Questions

How do you pronounce aluminum?

Aluminum is pronounced /ə.ˈlu.mə.nəm/, or uh-LOO-muh-nuhm in plain letters. It has 4 syllables and the stress falls on the second syllable, "loo".

How many syllables are in aluminum?

4: uh-LOO-muh-nuhm. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

How do you use aluminum in a sentence?

Aluminum cans are the easiest thing in the bin to recycle. The boat has an aluminum hull that never needs painting.

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