English word stress practice

9 basic word stress rules

Learn the rules below before practising — the ˈ mark is placed before the stressed syllable.

1. 1

   Two-syllable nouns and adjectives — stress falls on the first syllable.

   ˈteacher, ˈhappy, ˈgarden, ˈbusy, ˈtable

2. 2

   Two-syllable verbs and prepositions — stress falls on the second syllable.

   beˈgin, enˈjoy, aˈgree, beˈlow, reˈlax

3. 3

   Compound nouns (two words written together or hyphenated) — stress falls on the first word.

   ˈblackboard, ˈsunrise, ˈtoothpaste, ˈnotebook

4. 4

   Compound adjectives and compound verbs — stress usually falls on the second word.

   old-ˈfashioned, wellˈknown, underˈstand, overˈcome

5. 5

   Words ending in -ic, -ical, -ian, -ious, -ial, -tion, -sion — stress falls right before the suffix.

   ecoˈnomic, hisˈtorical, muˈsician, deˈlicious, eduˈcation, deˈcision

6. 6

   Words ending in -ity, -ety, -graphy, -logy, -cracy — stress falls on the syllable right before the suffix.

   aˈbility, soˈciety, phoˈtography, biˈology, deˈmocracy

7. 7

   Words ending in -ee, -eer, -ese, -ique, -esque — stress falls right on the suffix (the last syllable).

   employˈee, volunˈteer, Japanˈese, uˈnique, picturˈesque

8. 8

   Suffixes -ful, -less, -ment, -ness, -ly, -able, -er, -or, -ing usually do NOT shift the stress — it stays where it was in the root word.

   ˈbeautiful, ˈcareless, enˈjoyment, ˈhappiness, ˈquickly

9. 9

   Words with 3+ syllables that don't fit the groups above — stress tends to avoid a syllable with the weak vowel /ə/ or /ɪ/, and often falls on the third syllable from the end.

   ˈfamily, iˈmagine, ˈexercise, ˈyesterday

Pick a CEFR level, then tap the syllable you think carries the main stress. Listen carefully before guessing — wrong word stress is one of the most common mistakes Vietnamese speakers make in English.

The four words below have the same number of syllables, but one has a different stress position from the other three. Pick that word.