How to pronounce Closest
Closest has 2 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "kloh". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
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Press record, say "closest" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Closest syllables
Closest has 2 syllables: KLOH-suhst.
- KLOHkloʊ
- suhstsəst
Two syllables: KLOH-sist. The s is voiceless, unlike the verb "close".
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.
Gliding vowels
The ay and oh vowels glide: start on one sound and slide into a short ee or oo. Cutting them short makes them sound like eh and aw.
Closest in a sentence
- The closest station is a ten-minute walk.
- She is the closest thing I have to a mentor.
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 consonant omittedHold the final mouth position briefly without adding another vowel.
- Consonant cluster reducedBuild the cluster one sound at a time without deleting a member.
- Extra vowel after a consonantFinish directly on the consonant instead of adding a vowel.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- Diphthong flattened into one vowelMove smoothly between both vowel positions.
Questions
How do you pronounce closest?
Closest is pronounced /ˈkloʊ.səst/, or KLOH-suhst in plain letters. It has 2 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "kloh".
How many syllables are in closest?
2: KLOH-suhst. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use closest in a sentence?
The closest station is a ten-minute walk. She is the closest thing I have to a mentor.
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