How to pronounce “close”
“close” is said two ways
/kloʊz/
klohz
To shut. Ends in a buzzing z.
/kloʊs/
klohs
Near, or careful — a close friend, a close look. Ends in a hissed s.
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: “Stand close to the door and close it quietly.”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 “close” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the verb and the adjective. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “close” in one beat
close
/kloʊz/
Everything in this card describes the verb form. As an adjective it is /kloʊs/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /kləʊz/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- closekloʊz
- IPA (American)
- /kloʊz/
- IPA (British)
- /kləʊz/
- Respelling
- klohz (verb) · klohs (adjective)
- Syllables
- 1 — close
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /kloʊz/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb, adjective, adverb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
American and British are not the same here
This is the verb form in two accents — a separate question from the two pronunciations above, which are the same accent saying two different words.
/kloʊz/
/kləʊz/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “close” goes wrong
- Often heard
“klohz to the station”
meaning near, it ends in s — klohs; only the verb is klohz
What “close” means
- noun
the temporal end; the concluding time
“the stopping point of each round was signaled by a bell”
- noun
the last section of a communication
“in conclusion I want to say...”
- noun
the concluding part of any performance
Say it in a sentence
“Stand close to the door and close it quietly.”“close”, answered
How do you pronounce “close”?
“close” has two pronunciations: /kloʊz/ as a verb and /kloʊs/ as an adjective — 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 verb form. It is one unbroken piece — /kloʊz/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “close” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /kloʊz/ — a single beat.
Which pronunciation of “close” is correct?
Both are. /kloʊz/ (klohz) as a verb; /kloʊs/ (klohs) as an adjective. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does, and the two are as different as any two words. Both appear here: “Stand close to the door and close it quietly.”
Is “close” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /kloʊz/ (klohz); British English says /kləʊz/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “close” mean?
As a noun: the temporal end; the concluding time For example: “the stopping point of each round was signaled by a bell” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “close”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /kloʊz/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “close” 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.