How to pronounce “duplicate”
“duplicate” is said two ways
/ˈdupləkət/
DOO-pli-kuht
The copy — also the adjective, a duplicate key. Ends in a reduced -kuht.
/ˈdupləˌkeɪt/
DOO-pli-kayt
To make a copy. Ends in a full -kayt.
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: “Duplicate the file so there is a duplicate on the other drive.”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 “duplicate” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the verb. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “duplicate” in 3 beats
duplicate
/ˈdupləkət/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. As a verb it is /ˈdupləˌkeɪt/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ˈdjuːplɪkət/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- dudustress
- pləplə
- kətkət
- IPA (American)
- /ˈdupləkət/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈdjuːplɪkət/
- Respelling
- DOO-pli-kuht (noun) · DOO-pli-kayt (verb)
- Syllables
- 3 — DU-plə-kət
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: DU-plə-kət. “du” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb, adjective
- 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.
/ˈdupləkət/
/ˈdjuːplɪkət/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “duplicate” goes wrong
- Often heard
“a DOO-pli-kayt key”
the copy is DOO-pli-kuht; only the verb ends in -kayt
What “duplicate” means
- noun
something additional of the same kind
“he always carried extras in case of an emergency”
- noun
a copy that corresponds to an original exactly
“he made a duplicate for the files”
- verb
make or do or perform again
“He could never replicate his brilliant performance of the magic trick”
Say it in a sentence
“Duplicate the file so there is a duplicate on the other drive.”“duplicate”, answered
How do you pronounce “duplicate”?
“duplicate” has two pronunciations: /ˈdupləkət/ as a noun and /ˈdupləˌkeɪt/ 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. Build it as DU-plə-kət, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “duplicate” have?
3: du · plə · kət. The beat lands on the first, “du”.
Which pronunciation of “duplicate” is correct?
Both are. /ˈdupləkət/ (DOO-pli-kuht) as a noun; /ˈdupləˌkeɪt/ (DOO-pli-kayt) 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: “Duplicate the file so there is a duplicate on the other drive.”
Is “duplicate” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈdupləkət/ (DOO-pli-kuht); British English says /ˈdjuːplɪkət/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “duplicate” mean?
As a noun: something additional of the same kind For example: “he always carried extras in case of an emergency” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “duplicate”?
Stress the first syllable: DU-plə-kət. “du” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “duplicate” 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.