Heteronym
"Object" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say OB-jekt when it means a thing (noun), and ub-JEKT when it means to protest or disagree (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
noun
OB-jekt
a thing
“What is that object?”
verb
ub-JEKT
to protest or disagree
“I object to this plan.”
Each button speaks the respelling, not the spelling — otherwise the speech engine would pick a single default pronunciation for both senses.
| Pronunciation | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| OB-jekt | noun | a thing |
| ub-JEKT | verb | to protest or disagree |
"Object" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say OB-jekt when it means a thing (noun), and ub-JEKT when it means to protest or disagree (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
Pronounced OB-jekt, "object" is a noun meaning a thing. For example: "What is that object?"
Pronounced ub-JEKT, "object" is a verb meaning to protest or disagree. For example: "I object to this plan."
"Object" is a heteronym: two distinct words that happen to be spelled the same way. English spelling did not standardise around pronunciation, so unrelated words sometimes converged on one spelling while keeping separate sounds.
See the full entry for “object”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.