Pronunciation

How to pronounce “stone

“stone” is pronounced /stoʊn/ (STOHN) in American English and /stəʊn/ in British English — one syllable.
The sound

Say “stone” in one beat

Say it like this

stone

/stoʊn/

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

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

American and British are not the same here

American

/stoʊn/

British

/stəʊn/

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

Meaning

What “stone” means

  1. noun

    a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter

    he threw a rock at me

  2. noun

    building material consisting of a piece of rock hewn in a definite shape for a special purpose

    he wanted a special stone to mark the site

  3. noun

    material consisting of the aggregate of minerals like those making up the Earth's crust

    that mountain is solid rock

Say it in a sentence

The old bridge was built entirely from local stone.
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

stone”, answered

How do you pronounce “stone”?

“stone” is pronounced /stoʊn/ (STOHN) in American English and /stəʊn/ in British English — one syllable. It is one unbroken piece — /stoʊn/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.

How many syllables does “stone” have?

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

Is “stone” said differently in British English?

Yes. American English says /stoʊn/ (STOHN); British English says /stəʊn/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.

What does “stone” mean?

As a noun: a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter For example: “he threw a rock at me” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.

Where is the stress in “stone”?

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

Practise this word

Now say “stone” 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.