How do you say 'close'? Homographs

How do you say ‘close’? If you think there might be more than one way to pronounce and use this word, you're right!

Here's a quick Pronunciation Challenge.

Try saying the following phrases out loud - and record yourself if you're able to. Then watch the video (link at the end) to check your pronunciation.

• There was a really close finish in the race.
• At the end of your work day, you should close your laptop down.
• Gemma lives really close to the park.
• Could you close the door behind you as you leave?

Can you hear - and feel - the difference in how the ‘s’ in 'close' is pronounced in these sentences?

‘Close’ is a homograph - a word which has different pronunciations and meanings (as exemplified above), but the same spelling in each case.

‘Close’ meaning near, or not far, is pronounced /kləʊs/. But ‘close’ the verb, meaning the opposite of ‘open’, is pronounced /kləʊz/.

Click here to watch the video on our YouTube channel and hear the pronunciations.

One of our learning community commented:

"Videos like this are very useful! As the two 's' sounds usually don't alter the meaning in German words, our ears aren't trained to hear the difference, and I was already in my 30s when I found out that prize and price are supposed to be pronounced differently for example. And even here the two versions sound almost identical to me, but now I can make sure to pronounce both meanings right. ^^"

Let me know how you get on with this challenge and email me if you have any questions (jenny@jdenglishpronunciation.co.uk). You could also ask a friend or colleague to try reading the sentences out load, and then watch the video together to check whether you are saying 'close' correctly.