Advanced decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/

This page is an advanced version of Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/. It can also be used for self study.

Many words that are spelled with "s" are pronounced with /s/ while others are pronounced with /z/. Students who have never heard the words must memorize them. Heteronyms are particularly relevant here.

This article doesn't explain other sounds, such as /ʃ/ or /ʒ/.

Initial
When looking at a written word there is never a doubt whether it is pronounced /s/ or /z/ at the beginning of the word. Besides, there are only two words with other alternatives: sugar and sure.


 * homophones /s/: C - sea - see; cell - sell; cent - scent - sent; cite - site - sight; scene - seen;
 * minimal pairs: seal - zeal; sink - zinc; sue - zoo;

Ending in "Vs"
V is any vowel sound. (*) See Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”

Cells in gray show short lists of words that must be memorized in order to know their pronunciation; note that nobody needs to learn the pronunciation of obscure proper nouns.

Cells in green determine their sound according to the rules of pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”. This is valid for contractions for phonological reasons.


 * silent "s": Arkansas - debris - Illinois

Ending in "Cs"
C is any consonant sound (including "r"). (*) See Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”

Cells in green determine their sound according to the rules of pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”. This is valid for contractions for phonological reasons.

Cells in yellow shows irregular plurals that must be memorized; however the final “s” is pronounced according to the rules of pronunciation of the plural.


 * silent "s": corps - hors d'oeuvre

Not ending in a single "s"
Vse means a vowel followed by "se". Cse means a consonant followed by "se".

adj. adjective, n. noun, v. verb n., etc any part of speech except verb

Cells in red show long lists of words that must be memorized in order to know their pronunciation. Cells in gray show short lists.


 * homophones /s/: lapse - laps; lynx - links; peace - piece;
 * homophones /z/: freeze - frees (v.); maze - maize - Mae's; pause - paws; please - pleas; raise - rays; size - sighs


 * minimal pairs
 * advice - advise; bus - buzz; device - devise; face - phase; hiss - his; grace - graze; loose - lose; Miss - Ms.; price - prize; race - raise; rice - rise;
 * second word is plural or third person: dense - dens; ice - eyes; lice - lies; niece - knees; once - ones; peace - peas; place - plays; race - rays; since - sins; tense - tens;
 * heteronyms: abuse (n. - v.); close (adj. - v.); excuse (n. - v.); house (n. - v.)

Adjacent to vowels
Cells in red show long lists of words that must be memorized in order to know their pronunciation.

Cells in gray show short lists.

Cell in yellow indicates a rule that must be memorized: plurals of nouns ending in "us" have a plural ending in /sɪz/. The same rule applies to third person of verbs.

n., etc any part of speech except verb v. verb


 * minimal pairs: advices - advises; buses - buzzes; faces - phases; precedent - president; prices - prizes; racer - razor; races - raises;
 * heteronyms:
 * analyses: n. /əˈnæləsiːz/ - v.
 * diagnoses n. /ˌdaɪəɡˈnəʊsiːz/ - v. /ˈdaɪəɡnəʊzɪz, ˈdaɪəɡnəʊsɪz/
 * resent: (feel angry) /rɪˈzent/, (sent again) /riːˈsent/

Adjacent to at least one consonant
Note 1: In this section a silent "r" (as in "conversation") is considered a consonant.

Note 2: Words that have "sm" sounding /zəm/ are listed in section.

xC means "x" followed by a consonant. xV means "x" followed by a vowel.

Cells in red show long lists of words that must be memorized in order to know their pronunciation. Cells in gray show short lists.


 * silent "s": aisle - island

Summary
The following pairs of words summarize the /s/-/z/ problems students may have:
 * goose - cheese (nouns)
 * increase - cause (verbs)


 * basic - music (nouns)
 * desolate - desire (verbs)


 * answer - damsel
 * exercise - example

Variant pronunciations
Some words may be pronounced either with /s/ or with /z/. In some cases there is a regional variation.


 * absorb, explosive, nausea, opposite, resource, spouse, transit, transition, translate, transmission, transplant, treatise, usage
 * /ks/ or /gz/: exile, exit
 * /s/ in BrE, /z/ in AmE: asthma /ˈæsmə, ˈæzmə/
 * /z/ in BrE, /s/ in AmE: blouse, diagnose, erase

Several proper names spelled with "s" are pronounced with either /s/ or /z/.


 * Denise - Glasgow - Jesus /ˈdʒiːzəs, ˈdʒiːzəz, heˈsuːs/ - Joseph - Josephine - Lisa - Teresa - Theresa

Greek plurals ending in sis
Many Greek-derived words ending in sis have an irregular plural involving /s/ and /z/.
 * crisis /ˈkraɪsɪs/ - crises /ˈkraɪsiːz/
 * diagnosis /ˌdaɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/ - diagnoses /ˌdaɪəɡˈnəʊsiːz/
 * synthesis /ˈsɪnθəsɪs/ - syntheses /ˈsɪnθəsiːz/
 * thesis /ˈθiːsɪs/ - theses /ˈθiːsiːz/

Heteronyms

 * There are many heteronyms differing only in /s/ or /z/. Some of them are in the form of a noun with an /s/ pronunciation, and a verb with a /z/ pronunciation.


 * abuse - excuse - house - use


 * Some heteronyms involving /z/ change the stress pattern.


 * desert n. /ˈdezərt/ v. /dɪˈzɜːrt/ - present n. /ˈprezənt/ v. /prɪˈzent/.


 * merchandise n. /ˈmɜːrtʃəndaɪs, ˈmɜːrtʃəndaɪz/ v. /ˈmɜːrtʃəndaɪz/

Used and used to
Care should be taken to distinguish between "used to" and the past tense of the verb "to use".

Used is pronounced /juːst/ when it is a modal verb (I used to swim all summers) and /juːzd/ when it is the past tense of use (I used her telephone).