pronouncekit

SOUND LESSON

How to pronounce /ʊə/: the vowel in tour

Learn the traditional British /ʊə/ in tour and cure, why many speakers now use /ɔː/, and the American pattern with /r/. Practice sure, pure and poor.

/ʊə/
British English
/ʊə/ · diphthong · near-close back → central · rounded to neutral

Try it in a word

Are you sure about the tour?

Mouth & tongue

Enable JavaScript to view the 3D panda. Pronunciation steps remain available below.

Vocal folds: vibrating

TongueTeethUvula

Simplified human pronunciation. The small uvula hangs from the palate; it is not the vocal folds. The wave indicates voicing.

Voice settings

The mouth starts slightly open. Movement is slowed for observation; the synthetic sound plays once at its original speed. Pause holds the current mouth shape; reset returns to the relaxed position. The panda is a symbolic teaching aid for human pronunciation, not animal anatomy.

What your mouth is doing

The traditional sound starts near /ʊ/, with the lips rounded, and glides toward /ə/ as the lips relax. It is less stable than other vowels: many British speakers pronounce poor and sure with /ɔː/.

Comparing with Mandarin and Spanish

Because this vowel is changing, dictionaries may list two readings, so use the one your model speaker uses. American English typically has /ʊr/ or /ɔr/, and pure and cure begin with /j/ before the vowel.

Mandarin and Spanish speakers can start from a relaxed u, but should not split the vowel into two syllables. Pure and cure also begin with a /j/ glide after the first consonant.

Build the sound, step by step

  1. Start with a relaxed, rounded /ʊ/, as in book.
  2. Relax your lips and glide to a soft /ə/, or use /r/ for American English.
  3. Say tour and poor, then add /j/ for pure and cure.

What to watch for

  • Omitting /j/ makes pure sound like poor. Add the glide after /p/.
  • Do not correct a speaker who uses /ɔː/ in sure; it is a very common reading.

Hear the difference in your own voice

Compare pure and poor, then tour and tore for speakers who separate them. Add /j/ in pure, and start tour nearer to /ʊ/ than the more open vowel in tore.

Compare these sounds

Keep practicing

References & editorial notes

PronounceKit wrote this lesson as practical guidance. The references below describe the sounds; the comparisons with other languages are editorial teaching suggestions. It describes common American and British patterns, not every accent, and it has not been independently reviewed by a pronunciation specialist. The mouth model is a simplified teaching aid, not a validated simulation.

Published 3 November 2026