How to pronounce “play”
Say “play” in one beat
play
/pleɪ/
The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- playpleɪ
- IPA (American)
- /pleɪ/
- IPA (British)
- /pleɪ/
- Respelling
- PLAY
- Syllables
- 1 — play
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /pleɪ/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Beginner — most learners get this on the first take
What “play” means
- noun
a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
“he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway”
- noun
a theatrical performance of a drama
“the play lasted two hours”
- noun
a preset plan of action in team sports
“the coach drew up the plays for her team”
Say it in a sentence
“The children like to play in the garden after school.”“play”, answered
How do you pronounce “play”?
“play” is pronounced /pleɪ/ (PLAY) — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /pleɪ/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “play” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /pleɪ/ — a single beat.
What does “play” mean?
As a noun: a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage For example: “he wrote several plays but only one was produced on Broadway” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “play”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /pleɪ/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “play” 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.