How to pronounce “overflow”
“overflow” is said two ways
/ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/
OH-vur-floh
The excess, or the pipe. Beat on OH.
/ˌoʊvɚˈfloʊ/
oh-vur-FLOH
To spill over. Beat on the last syllable, FLOH.
Listen for the beat, not the letters
One syllable gets longer, louder and a step higher, and the other one collapses towards a schwa. Say the whole sentence rather than the word on its own and let the grammar pull the beat where it belongs.Both forms live in one sentence here: “Crowds overflow into the hall, so the overflow room opens at six.”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 “overflow” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the verb. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “overflow” in 3 beats
overflow
/ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. As a verb it is /ˌoʊvɚˈfloʊ/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /ˈəʊvəfləʊ/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- ovoʊstress
- erfvɚ
- lowfloʊ
- IPA (American)
- /ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈəʊvəfləʊ/
- Respelling
- OH-vur-floh (noun) · oh-vur-FLOH (verb)
- Syllables
- 3 — OV-erf-low
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: OV-erf-low. “ov” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
- 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.
/ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/
/ˈəʊvəfləʊ/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “overflow” goes wrong
- Often heard
“the bath will OH-vur-floh”
spilling over is oh-vur-FLOH; OH-vur-floh is the excess
What “overflow” means
- noun
a large flow
- noun
the occurrence of surplus liquid (as water) exceeding the limit or capacity
- verb
flow or run over (a limit or brim)
Say it in a sentence
“Crowds overflow into the hall, so the overflow room opens at six.”The sounds inside this word
Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.
“overflow”, answered
How do you pronounce “overflow”?
“overflow” has two pronunciations: /ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/ as a noun and /ˌoʊvɚˈfloʊ/ as a verb — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the beat does, and the vowels reshape around wherever it lands. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the noun form. Build it as OV-erf-low, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “overflow” have?
3: ov · erf · low. The beat lands on the first, “ov”.
Which pronunciation of “overflow” is correct?
Both are. /ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/ (OH-vur-floh) as a noun; /ˌoʊvɚˈfloʊ/ (oh-vur-FLOH) as a verb. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does. Move the beat and the word changes its job mid-sentence, which is why both are worth drilling. Both appear here: “Crowds overflow into the hall, so the overflow room opens at six.”
Is “overflow” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /ˈoʊvɚˌfloʊ/ (OH-vur-floh); British English says /ˈəʊvəfləʊ/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “overflow” mean?
As a noun: a large flow For example: “Crowds overflow into the hall, so the overflow room opens at six.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “overflow”?
Stress the first syllable: OV-erf-low. “ov” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Now say “overflow” 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.