Pronunciation

How to pronounce “phone

“phone” is pronounced /foʊn/ (FOHN) in American English and /fəʊn/ in British English — one syllable.
The sound

Say “phone” in one beat

Say it like this

phone

/foʊn/

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

1 beat
  1. phonefoʊn
IPA (American)
/foʊn/
IPA (British)
/fəʊn/
Respelling
FOHN
Syllables
1 — phone
Stress
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /foʊn/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Part of speech
noun, verb
Difficulty
Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
Accents

American and British are not the same here

American

/foʊn/

British

/fəʊn/

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

Meaning

What “phone” means

  1. noun

    electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds

    I talked to him on the telephone

  2. noun

    (phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language

  3. noun

    electro-acoustic transducer for converting electric signals into sounds; it is held over or inserted into the ear

    it was not the typing but the earphones that she disliked

Say it in a sentence

He left his phone charging on the kitchen counter.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

3 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

phone”, answered

How do you pronounce “phone”?

“phone” is pronounced /foʊn/ (FOHN) in American English and /fəʊn/ in British English — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /foʊn/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.

How many syllables does “phone” have?

One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /foʊn/ — a single beat.

Is “phone” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /foʊn/ (FOHN); British English says /fəʊn/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “phone” mean?

As a noun: electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds For example: “I talked to him on the telephone” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “phone”?

One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /foʊn/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.

Practise this word

Now say “phone” 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.