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Updated: 2026-10-01 06:21
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What is Howjsay?
Howjsay is a free online English pronunciation dictionary. You type a word, press enter, and hear it pronounced; the site says it uses natural recordings by native speakers. It also offers a translation tool and lets you build practice lists of up to 15 entries, such as "cat;cart;cut;caught," so you can drill words that sound similar. The dictionary is large, with the site listing 181,987 entries, and words are organized into categories like medical, food, place names, and UK vs USA.
Who it suits
- English learners who want to check a word's pronunciation quickly.
- Teachers and tutors preparing minimal-pair or vocabulary drills.
- Anyone unsure how to say a name, place, or technical term.
What to keep in mind
- It is a pronunciation and translation reference, not a full learner's dictionary with grammar notes or example sentences.
- It works one word per entry, so it is not built for practising whole sentences.
- Recordings reflect particular speakers, so accent variety is limited compared with larger corpus-based tools.
A practical next step
If you are preparing for a presentation or interview, pick the ten words you are least sure about, look each one up, then use the list feature to group the tricky ones together and replay them until the sounds stick. For a second opinion on accent variety, compare entries with Cambridge Dictionary or Merriam-Webster, which include their own audio.
How can I hear the correct pronunciation of a specific English word on Howjsay?
Type the word into the search box on Howjsay and press Enter. The site plays a recording by a native speaker immediately, without an extra click. Enter one word per search; the dictionary holds roughly 181,987 entries, so most common English words, names and technical terms are covered.
If the word is not there or you want variants
- Try a different spelling or the singular form — the dictionary is entry-based, so inflected or hyphenated forms may be missing.
- Use the UK vs USA category to compare British and American pronunciations where both exist.
- Build a practice list of up to 15 words separated by semicolons (for example,
cat;cart;cut;caught) and work through them in one session. - Browse by category — such as Medical, Musical terms, Names, Food or Swear words — when you want vocabulary grouped by topic rather than a single lookup.
Practical scenario
A non-native speaker preparing for a job interview in London might look up "schedule", "route" and "lever", notice the UK/US split, then rehearse the British variants in a 15-word list before the call. That is faster than pausing mid-sentence to guess.
Decision criterion
Use Howjsay when you need a quick audio check of one word and are already fairly comfortable with English. If you need definitions, example sentences and grammar in the same place — or pronunciation for full phrases and connected speech — a general learner's dictionary will serve you better, because Howjsay is built around single-word audio entries rather than explanation.
Next step
Pick the five words you most often hesitate over, add them to a list, and play each one twice: once to listen, once to repeat aloud.
Can I compare UK and USA pronunciations for the same word on Howjsay?
Yes. Howjsay includes a UK vs USA category, so you can look up a word and compare British and American pronunciations rather than relying on a single recording.
How to use it for comparison
- Go to the UK vs USA category on Howjsay.
- Search one word at a time — the dictionary is built for single-word entries.
- Play the UK version, then the US version, and note the difference you actually hear: vowel sound, stress placement, or a dropped/added sound.
- If you want to drill a set, use the list feature (up to 15 entries, separated by semicolons) to group words you keep mixing up.
Practical example
A learner preparing for a job interview in London might check words like schedule, tomato or advertisement in both variants, then practise only the variant matching where they'll be speaking. Someone studying for an American English exam would do the reverse.
Trade-offs to keep in mind
- Two recordings per word is useful for awareness, but it can slow you down if your goal is fluency in one accent. Pick a target accent and treat the other as reference.
- Hearing a difference doesn't tell you why it exists. If you need the phonetic rule behind it, pair the audio with a dictionary that shows IPA.
- Audio alone won't fix rhythm and connected speech. Use the common phrases category for short chunks, not just isolated words.
Next step: choose your target accent first, then use the other variant only to train your ear — for example, listen to the US version once, then say the UK version aloud three times.
How do I create and use a custom list of words to practice pronunciation on Howjsay?
Create a list of up to 15 words separated by semicolons, paste it into the site's list field, and play the entries: Howjsay's own page says lists can hold up to 15 entries and gives the example format cat;cart;cut;caught.
Building the list
- Keep one word per entry, since the search box is designed for a single word at a time.
- Use a semicolon between words, not commas or line breaks.
- Group words by the sound you are drilling, not by topic. Minimal pairs such as
ship;sheep;chip;cheaptrain your ear far better than a random vocabulary set. - Stay within the 15-entry limit and build several short lists rather than one long one.
Practising with it
Type the word, press enter, and listen. The site's stated behaviour is that you hear the word pronounced instantly on enter. Play a word, say it aloud yourself, then replay to compare. Repeat the whole list in one pass, then shuffle the order so you are not memorising a sequence.
A useful routine for a learner preparing for a presentation: build a list of the ten words you keep stumbling over, run it twice daily for a week, and swap out any word you now say correctly without thinking.
Where it fits and where it doesn't
| Need | Howjsay | Better suited elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Quick check of one word's sound | Yes, instant playback | — |
| Drilling 10–15 problem words | Yes, via custom lists | — |
| Long vocabulary decks | No, 15-entry cap | Flashcard apps |
| Meaning, grammar, usage examples | Limited | Full dictionaries such as Cambridge Dictionary |
| Connected speech and intonation | Not the focus | Listening practice with BBC Learning English |
The trade-off is focus versus depth: Howjsay is fast and uncluttered for isolated words, but it does not teach you how those words behave in a sentence. Pair it with something that gives you real spoken context. If you want a second reference point for a word's pronunciation, Merriam-Webster includes audio for many entries, and Forvo offers recordings from multiple speakers, which helps when you want to hear variation rather than one voice.
Next step: pick the five words you most often have to repeat for other people, build your first semicolon-separated list, and practise it today.
Does Howjsay offer text-to-speech or mobile app support for learning pronunciation on the go?
Yes — Howjsay includes both a text-to-speech tool and dedicated iPhone and Android options, so it works as a mobile pronunciation reference rather than a desktop-only dictionary.
What the site offers
- Text to Speech: listed as a feature on the site, alongside the audio dictionary itself.
- iPhone and Android: separate entries for each platform, so you can look up pronunciations on a phone.
- Instant audio: the search box plays a word as soon as you enter it — one word per entry.
- Practice lists: you can create lists of up to 15 entries (for example,
cat;cart;cut;caught) and hear them together, which suits minimal-pair drilling. - Broad coverage: roughly 181,987 entries, organised into categories such as UK vs USA, medical, food, names and common phrases.
How to use it on the go
If you are a learner commuting or between classes, the practical workflow is: type the word, listen, then build a short list of the words you keep mispronouncing and replay that list until the contrast is clear. A teacher preparing a lesson can do the same with a themed category — for example, a set of medical or food terms — and play them in sequence.
Trade-offs to weigh
- Howjsay is a pronunciation and audio dictionary, not a full language course: it gives you the sound of a word, not grammar drills or structured lessons.
- The one-word-per-entry search is fast but less convenient if you want to paste a whole sentence; that is where a separate text-to-speech tool matters.
- For connected speech, stress patterns in full sentences and accent coaching, pair it with a broader resource such as Cambridge Dictionary or BBC Learning English.
Next step
Pick five words you regularly stumble over, add them to a Howjsay list, and compare the UK and USA versions where both exist. If you need sentence-level practice rather than single words, use the Text to Speech option or a dedicated TTS tool instead.
How does Howjsay handle pronunciation for specialized terms like medical, scientific, or geographical names?
Howjsay organizes its dictionary by topic categories, and several of those categories exist precisely because specialized vocabulary is hard to guess at. On the page you can browse categories that include Medical, Science, Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Cities, Nationality and Names, alongside everyday groups like Food, Animals, Clothing and Verbs. So rather than treating pronunciation as one undifferentiated word list, the site gives you a subject-based route into the terms that most often trip people up.
What that means in practice
Pick the category that matches your material, then search within it. Howjsay plays an audio recording on entry, one word per search, and lets you build a list of up to 15 entries — useful for drilling a set of drug names, species names, or place names in one sitting rather than looking them up one at a time.
Where this approach helps and where it doesn't
| Situation | Howjsay's fit |
|---|---|
| Medical, scientific or geographic terms you need to say aloud | Strong — dedicated categories plus audio for each entry |
| Building a short practice set before a presentation or lecture | Strong — the 15-entry list feature |
| Distinguishing UK vs USA pronunciations | Supported — there is a UK vs USA category |
| Full definitions, etymology or usage examples | Limited — the site is built around pronunciation, with a separate definition/translate option |
| Languages other than English | Not the focus |
A concrete scenario
Suppose you're a student preparing to present a paper that mentions a drug, an enzyme, a genus and a foreign city. Instead of searching each one cold, start in the Medical and Science categories, confirm each audio entry, and load the trickiest ones into a single list of up to 15 so you can run through them back to back before you rehearse.
Decision criterion
Use Howjsay when the question is "how do I say this?" — especially for domain terms where you have no reliable intuition. If you also need meaning, grammar or example sentences, pair it with a general learner's dictionary such as Cambridge Dictionary or Merriam-Webster, and for British-focused coverage and usage notes, Oxford Learner's Dictionaries.
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