Pronunciation

How to pronounce “overhead

“overhead” is pronounced /ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/ (OH-vuh-hed) in American English and /əʊvəhɛd/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “ov”.
The sound

Say “overhead” in 3 beats

Say it like this

overhead

/ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/

The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /əʊvəhɛd/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.

3 beats
  1. ovstress
  2. er
  3. headhɛd
IPA (American)
/ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/
IPA (British)
/əʊvəhɛd/
Respelling
OH-vuh-hed
Syllables
3 — OV-er-head
Stress
Stress the first syllable: OV-er-head. “ov” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.
Part of speech
noun, adjective, adverb
Difficulty
Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/

British

/əʊvəhɛd/

No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.

Meaning

What “overhead” means

  1. noun

    the expense of maintaining property (e.g., paying property taxes and utilities and insurance); it does not include depreciation or the cost of financing or income taxes

  2. noun

    (computer science) the processing time required by a device prior to the execution of a command

  3. noun

    (computer science) the disk space required for information that is not data but is used for location and timing

Say it in a sentence

Moving to a smaller unit cut our overhead considerably.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

6 sounds, in the order you say them

Each sound has its own page: where the tongue goes, what it is usually confused with, and words to drill it on.

Questions

overhead”, answered

How do you pronounce “overhead”?

“overhead” is pronounced /ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/ (OH-vuh-hed) in American English and /əʊvəhɛd/ in British English — 3 syllables, stressed on “ov”. Build it as OV-er-head, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.

How many syllables does “overhead” have?

3: ov · er · head. The beat lands on the first, “ov”.

Is “overhead” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ˈoʊvɚˈhɛd/ (OH-vuh-hed); British English says /əʊvəhɛd/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “overhead” mean?

As a noun: the expense of maintaining property (e.g., paying property taxes and utilities and insurance); it does not include depreciation or the cost of financing or income taxes For example: “Moving to a smaller unit cut our overhead considerably.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “overhead”?

Stress the first syllable: OV-er-head. “ov” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllables fall away from it.

Practise this word

Now say “overhead” 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.