There are two levels of stress in English:

        - word stress where each word has a particular stress pattern, and

        - sentence stress which is used to highlight certain words in a sentence.

        This page will focus on word stress.

What is word stress?

• In English, each word consists of one or more syllables.
  • For example the word ‘medication’ has 4 syllables – me-di-`ca-tion.
• In words with two or more syllables, one syllable is always stronger or more prominent than the others.  This is called word stress.

A stressed syllable may sound:

• louder
• longer
• or have a different pitch (higher or lower)

Can you hear the stressed syllables in these words?  Click on them to hear how they’re pronounced. The circles above each syllable show which one has the most stress.

Why is stress important?

• Stress provides useful clues for meaning.
• Each word has a specific stress pattern, which is as much part of the word as the sounds that make it up. So even when you pronounce each sound perfectly, if the stress is wrong, it can be hard to understand.
• People listen to patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables to understand what someone is saying.
• Incorrect stress can lead to misunderstanding.
  • Example: is he im`portant or `impotent?

Why is word stress difficult?

• English word stress is complex and can occur on any syllable; however, it is always in a fixed position within the same word.
• Sometimes even words that are closely related may have different stress patterns.

Examples:

• Even words that look identical may have different stress patterns.

Examples:

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