How to pronounce “bow”
“bow” is said two ways
/boʊ/
boh
The ribbon, the weapon, the violin bow. Rhymes with go.
/baʊ/
bau
To bend forward — and the bow of a ship. Rhymes with now.
Listen for the vowel, not the letters
The spelling never moves; the sounds inside it do. Practise the two back to back, so your mouth stops defaulting to whichever one you learnt first.Both forms live in one sentence here: “He tied a bow on the box, then gave a small bow.”Each button plays a short phrase rather than the bare word: the model voice takes its stress from the words around it, so asking it for “bow” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the verb. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “bow” in one beat
bow
/boʊ/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. As a verb it is /baʊ/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /bəʊ/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- bowboʊ
- IPA (American)
- /boʊ/
- IPA (British)
- /bəʊ/
- Respelling
- boh (noun) · bau (verb)
- Syllables
- 1 — bow
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /boʊ/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
This is the noun form in two accents — a separate question from the two pronunciations above, which are the same accent saying two different words.
/boʊ/
/bəʊ/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “bow” goes wrong
- Often heard
“a bow tie said like bowing”
the ribbon and the weapon rhyme with go; bending forward rhymes with now
What “bow” means
- noun
a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces
- noun
a slightly curved piece of resilient wood with taut horsehair strands; used in playing certain stringed instruments
- noun
front part of a vessel or aircraft
“he pointed the bow of the boat toward the finish line”
Say it in a sentence
“He tied a bow on the box, then gave a small bow.”“bow”, answered
How do you pronounce “bow”?
“bow” has two pronunciations: /boʊ/ as a noun and /baʊ/ as a verb — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the sounds inside it do, and nothing on the page tells you which one a sentence wants. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the noun form. It is one unbroken piece — /boʊ/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “bow” have?
One, despite the 1 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /boʊ/ — a single beat.
Which pronunciation of “bow” is correct?
Both are. /boʊ/ (boh) as a noun; /baʊ/ (bau) as a verb. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does, and the two are as different as any two words. Both appear here: “He tied a bow on the box, then gave a small bow.”
Is “bow” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /boʊ/ (boh); British English says /bəʊ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “bow” mean?
As a noun: a knot with two loops and loose ends; used to tie shoelaces For example: “He tied a bow on the box, then gave a small bow.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “bow”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /boʊ/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “bow” and see every sound
Record it once and sayit lines your audio up against the target sound by sound — what landed, what slipped, and what it sounded like instead.