WORD STUDY

How to pronounce island /ˈaɪlənd/

The s in island is silent: EYE-lund. Learn the /aɪ/ opening, the weak second syllable and why the spelling misleads so many readers.

island

Broad IPA phonetic notation · general American / British

US /ˈīlənd/ · UK /ˈaɪlənd/

Syllables: 2

How to read these pronunciations

One reference reading per word and accent. Words such as read and wind can have other readings; this lookup does not choose by sentence meaning. Synthesized speech may use a different reading.

American results use dictionary respelling, as in ber. British results use broad IPA, as in /beə/. The sound chart and IPA lessons teach IPA separately. ˈ marks main stress and ˌ secondary stress; single-syllable words omit them.

American respelling key

a: cat
ā: day
ä: father
e: bed
ē: see
i: sit
ī: my
ō: go
ô: law
o͞o: food
o͝o: foot
oi: boy
ou: now
ə: cup, about
ər: bird, teacher
er: bear
ir: hear
CH: chip
j: jump
SH: ship
ZH: vision
TH: thin
T͟H: this
NG: sing
y: yes

Independently converted open dictionary data, using Oxford-style notation conventions. Not Oxford or Google dictionary content, and not affiliated with either publisher. Conversion does not verify every word or reproduce a particular dictionary edition.

Sources, conversion rules and licenses · US MIT · UK GPL-3.0

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Meaning

A piece of land surrounded by water.

There is no /s/ in this word. Start with the word eye, then add a weak second syllable with schwa. The final /nd/ stays together, with the tongue tip on the ridge.

Your practice sequence

Say eye, then land, and then weaken the vowel of land.
Keep stress at the start: EYE-lund.
Say “a small island”, without any /s/ or /z/.

We live on a small island.

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Find each sound in the phonetics chart, then return here to practise it inside the word.

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Published 3 November 2026

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