Pronunciation

How to pronounce “showed

“showed” is pronounced /ʃoʊd/ (SHOHD) in American English and /ʃəʊd/ in British English — one syllable.
The sound

Say “showed” in one beat

Say it like this

showed

/ʃoʊd/

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

1 beat
  1. showedʃoʊd
IPA (American)
/ʃoʊd/
IPA (British)
/ʃəʊd/
Respelling
SHOHD
Syllables
1 — showed
Stress
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /ʃoʊd/ 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

/ʃoʊd/

British

/ʃəʊd/

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

Meaning

What “showed” means

  1. verb

    give an exhibition of to an interested audience

    She shows her dogs frequently

  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

The teacher showed the class how to solve the equation.
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

showed”, answered

How do you pronounce “showed”?

“showed” is pronounced /ʃoʊd/ (SHOHD) in American English and /ʃəʊd/ in British English — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /ʃoʊd/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.

How many syllables does “showed” have?

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

Is “showed” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /ʃoʊd/ (SHOHD); British English says /ʃəʊd/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “showed” mean?

As a verb: give an exhibition of to an interested audience For example: “She shows her dogs frequently” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “showed”?

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

Practise this word

Now say “showed” 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.