How to pronounce “upgrade”
“upgrade” is said two ways
/ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/
UP-grayd
The better version, or the seat you got moved to. Beat on UP.
/ʌpˈɡɹeɪd/
up-GRAYD
To move up to something better. Beat on GRAYD.
Listen for the beat, not the letters
One syllable gets longer, louder and a step higher, and the other one collapses towards a schwa. Say the whole sentence rather than the word on its own and let the grammar pull the beat where it belongs.Both forms live in one sentence here: “Upgrade before Friday and the upgrade costs you nothing.”Each button plays a short phrase rather than the bare word: the model voice takes its stress from the words around it, so asking it for “upgrade” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the verb. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “upgrade” in 2 beats
upgrade
/ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. As a verb it is /ʌpˈɡɹeɪd/.
The voice you hear here is American; a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- ʌpʌpstress
- ɡɹeɪdɡɹeɪd
- IPA (American)
- /ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/
- IPA (British)
- /ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/
- Respelling
- UP-grayd (noun) · up-GRAYD (verb)
- Syllables
- 2 — ɅP-ɡɹeɪd
- Stress
- Stress the first syllable: ɅP-ɡɹeɪd. “ʌp” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
Where “upgrade” goes wrong
- Often heard
“pay for the up-GRAYD”
the thing you buy is UP-grayd; up-GRAYD is the act
What “upgrade” means
- noun
an upward slope or grade (as in a road)
“the car couldn't make it up the rise”
- noun
software that provides better performance than an earlier version did
- noun
a reservation that is improved
“I got an upgrade to first class when coach class was full”
Say it in a sentence
“Upgrade before Friday and the upgrade costs you nothing.”“upgrade”, answered
How do you pronounce “upgrade”?
“upgrade” has two pronunciations: /ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/ as a noun and /ʌpˈɡɹeɪd/ as a verb — the part of speech decides which. The spelling never changes; the beat does, and the vowels reshape around wherever it lands. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the noun form. Build it as ɅP-ɡɹeɪd, then run the first syllable a little longer than the rest and let the others reduce.
How many syllables does “upgrade” have?
2: ʌp · ɡɹeɪd. The beat lands on the first, “ʌp”.
Which pronunciation of “upgrade” is correct?
Both are. /ˈʌpɡɹeɪd/ (UP-grayd) as a noun; /ʌpˈɡɹeɪd/ (up-GRAYD) as a verb. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does. Move the beat and the word changes its job mid-sentence, which is why both are worth drilling. Both appear here: “Upgrade before Friday and the upgrade costs you nothing.”
What does “upgrade” mean?
As a noun: an upward slope or grade (as in a road) For example: “the car couldn't make it up the rise” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “upgrade”?
Stress the first syllable: ɅP-ɡɹeɪd. “ʌp” is longer, louder and a step higher; the other syllable falls away from it.
Now say “upgrade” 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.