How to pronounce “wound”
“wound” is said two ways
/wund/
woond
An injury — and the verb to wound is said the same way, woond.
/waʊnd/
wownd
The past tense of wind. Rhymes with found.
Listen for the vowel, not the letters
The spelling never moves; the sounds inside it do. Practise the two back to back, so your mouth stops defaulting to whichever one you learnt first.Both forms live in one sentence here: “He wound a bandage around the wound.”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 “wound” on its own would play one reading twice instead of the noun and the past tense. Read the transcription as you listen.
Say “wound” in one beat
wound
/wund/
Everything in this card describes the noun form. In the past tense it is /waʊnd/.
The voice you hear here is American; the British form is /wuːnd/ (see the table below), and a British voice is available in the app's settings.
- woundwund
- IPA (American)
- /wund/
- IPA (British)
- /wuːnd/
- Respelling
- woond (noun) · wownd (past tense)
- Syllables
- 1 — wound
- Stress
- One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /wund/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
- Part of speech
- noun, verb, adjective
- Difficulty
- Pro — the sounds are ordinary, the rhythm is where it slips
American and British are not the same here
This is the noun form in two accents — a separate question from the two pronunciations above, which are the same accent saying two different words.
/wund/
/wuːnd/
No audio here: sayit’s voice is American, so a British button would play the American word. Read the transcription instead.
Where “wound” goes wrong
- Often heard
“wownd on his arm”
the injury is woond; wownd is the past of wind
What “wound” means
- noun
an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin)
- noun
a casualty to military personnel resulting from combat
- noun
a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride); ; ; --Robert Frost
“he feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound”
Say it in a sentence
“He wound a bandage around the wound.”“wound”, answered
How do you pronounce “wound”?
“wound” has two pronunciations: /wund/ as a noun and /waʊnd/ in the past tense — the tense decides which. The spelling never changes; the sounds inside it do, and nothing on the page tells you which one a sentence wants. The transcription and syllable breakdown below describe the noun form. It is one unbroken piece — /wund/ — with no pause anywhere inside it.
How many syllables does “wound” have?
One, despite the 2 vowel letters in the spelling. The whole word is /wund/ — a single beat.
Which pronunciation of “wound” is correct?
Both are. /wund/ (woond) as a noun; /waʊnd/ (wownd) in the past tense. Nothing about the spelling tells you which — the sentence does, and the two are as different as any two words. Both appear here: “He wound a bandage around the wound.”
Is “wound” said differently in British English?
Yes. American English says /wund/ (woond); British English says /wuːnd/. Both are correct — choose the accent you are learning and stay inside it.
What does “wound” mean?
As a noun: an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin) For example: “He wound a bandage around the wound.” It carries 2 other senses as well — all of them said the same way.
Where is the stress in “wound”?
One syllable, so the whole word carries the beat — say /wund/ in one unbroken piece rather than clipping the vowel.
Now say “wound” 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.