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🗣️ To check views 🔤 To say letters
to sound out

to sound out

1 2.8
Say the letters and syllables of a word to help you read and spell it
  • phrasal verb
  • /saʊnd aʊt/
translation icon : pronunciar
  • A child who knows how to sound out printed words is freed from having to memorize every word he wants to be able to read.
  • sound out words
  • sound out letters

A child who knows how to sound out printed words is freed from having to memorize every word he wants to be able to read.

Examples

  • The teacher modeled how to sound out words and blend the sounds without stopping between sounds.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Students with fluent skills can sound out complex words found in science, math, and foreign languages.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Words appear above the new person, and she sounds out each of them.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • When she came to unknown words, she would attempt to sound them out and then stop.

    Academic text (2012)

  • For this measure, subjects were required to sound out each word and read words presented in list format.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Sure enough... there he was sounding out letters.

    The Birth of a Nation (2016)

  • Narrator 1: A few days later, Lucy and Annie are in the hut, sounding out words and letters.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Provide developmentally appropriate opportunities for children to write or scribble to promote invented spelling and to sound out words.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The results showed that all four students increased their accuracy in sounding out letters and reading words aloud under rapid pacing.

    Academic text (1995)

  • To help her improve her reading skills, the teacher asked the students to sound out the letters before blending them into words.

Synonyms

to pronounce
vsto sound out
204 1.0

To say a word or sound in a certain way

is used to teach reading by saying parts to spell them
to articulate
vsto sound out
45 4.4

To pronounce words clearly so others understand

aims at saying letters or syllables to teach reading and spelling
to enunciate
vsto sound out
6 5.8

To pronounce words clearly so people understand

is used to teach letter or syllable sounds for reading or spelling
to syllabize
vsto sound out
  • Specialized
8.1

To say a word in separate sound parts out loud

focuses on saying letters or syllables to help reading or spelling
to enounce
vsto sound out
9.9

To pronounce words or syllables clearly

focuses on saying parts aloud to help reading or spelling

How Clear

to enunciate
6 5.8
to articulate
45 4.4
to pronounce
204 1.0
to sound out
1 2.8
to say
∞ 1.0
to mumble
103 4.9

Surface Forms

sound out infinitive
sounded out past
sounded out past participle
sounding out present participle
sounds out third person singular

Morphology

sound + out

The sense 'to pronounce the sounds of letters or syllables' is partly derivable from combining 'sound' (to produce a sound or pronounce) with the particle 'out' (outwardly, fully), so learners can often infer a sense of pronouncing something aloud. However, the required narrowing to the specific reading about spelling/phonemes depends on selecting the correct sense of 'sound' and recognising a phrasal-verb pattern, so the meaning is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

The phrasal verb sound out comes from the simple act of saying each sound out loud when you read a new word, so it now means 'to say the sounds of letters or syllables to help read or spell'.