Pronunciation

How to pronounce “prove

“prove” is pronounced /pɹuv/ (PROOV) in American English and /pɹuːv/ in British English — one syllable.
The sound

Say “prove” in one beat

Say it like this

prove

/pɹuv/

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

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

American and British are not the same here

American

/pɹuv/

British

/pɹuːv/

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

Meaning

What “prove” means

  1. verb

    be shown or be found to be

    She proved to be right

  2. verb

    establish the validity of something, as by an example, explanation or experiment

    The experiment demonstrated the instability of the compound

  3. verb

    provide evidence for

    The blood test showed that he was the father

Say it in a sentence

He wanted to prove that the method worked on real data.
Sound by sound

The sounds inside this word

4 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

prove”, answered

How do you pronounce “prove”?

“prove” is pronounced /pɹuv/ (PROOV) in American English and /pɹuːv/ in British English — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /pɹuv/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.

How many syllables does “prove” have?

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

Is “prove” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /pɹuv/ (PROOV); British English says /pɹuːv/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “prove” mean?

As a verb: be shown or be found to be For example: “She proved to be right” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “prove”?

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

Practise this word

Now say “prove” 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.