How to pronounce Cancel
Cancel has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "kan". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
Say cancel and check it
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Press record, say "cancel" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Cancel syllables
Cancel has 2 syllables: KAN-suhl.
- KANkæn
- suhlsəl
KAN-sul, stress on the first syllable. The second syllable is a quick "sul" — not "sell", and not the "-sale" of "wholesale".
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.
The a in cat
Open the jaw wider than for eh and spread the lips slightly. The a in cat is a distinct vowel, not eh or ah.
Cancel in a sentence
- You can cancel the booking up to a day before you arrive.
- They had to cancel the match because of the fog.
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.
- Final /l/ unclearKeep tongue-tip contact while raising the back of the tongue for a clear final /l/.
- 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 cancel?
Cancel is pronounced /ˈkæn.səl/, or KAN-suhl in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "kan".
How many syllables are in cancel?
2: KAN-suhl. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use cancel in a sentence?
You can cancel the booking up to a day before you arrive. They had to cancel the match because of the fog.
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