---
title: "Illinois Pronunciation: How to Say It in English | Speakeroo"
description: "Illinois is pronounced /ˌɪ.lə.ˈnɔɪ/ — ih-luh-NOY. Say it out loud and get free AI feedback in seconds. Stress falls on the third syllable."
url: "https://speakeroo.app/how-to-pronounce/illinois"
---

[How to pronounce](https://speakeroo.app/how-to-pronounce)

# Illinois pronunciation

/ˌɪ.lə.ˈnɔɪ/

ih-luh-NOY

Illinois has 3 syllables. The stress is on the third syllable, "noy". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.

## Say illinois and check it

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Accent

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Listen

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

## Illinois syllables

Illinois has 3 syllables: ih-luh-NOY.

1. ih ɪ
2. luh lə
3. NOY nɔɪ

Il-uh-NOY, three syllables, stress on the last. The final s is silent — the state is French in origin, and the s was never sounded.

## 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.

### Short i versus ee

The short i (as in sit) is shorter and more relaxed than ee. Many learners stretch it into ee, which changes the word.

## Illinois in a sentence

- Illinois winters are colder than most people expect.
- She was born in Illinois and moved west after college.

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 syllable Make the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
- Extra syllable added Blend adjacent sounds and avoid pronouncing silent letters.
- Schwa not reduced Relax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- Diphthong flattened into one vowel Move smoothly between both vowel positions.
- /ɪ/ and /iː/ confused Make /iː/ higher, tenser and usually longer than /ɪ/.

## Questions

### How do you pronounce illinois?

Illinois is pronounced /ˌɪ.lə.ˈnɔɪ/, or ih-luh-NOY in plain letters. It has 3 syllables and the stress falls on the third syllable, "noy".

### How many syllables are in illinois?

3: ih-luh-NOY. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

### How do you use illinois in a sentence?

Illinois winters are colder than most people expect. She was born in Illinois and moved west after college.

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