Heteronym
"Produce" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say PROH-doos when it means fruits and vegetables (noun), and pruh-DOOS when it means to make or create (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
noun
PROH-doos
fruits and vegetables
“The produce looked fresh.”
verb
pruh-DOOS
to make or create
“The factory will produce more.”
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 |
|---|---|---|
| PROH-doos | noun | fruits and vegetables |
| pruh-DOOS | verb | to make or create |
"Produce" has two different pronunciations with two different meanings. Say PROH-doos when it means fruits and vegetables (noun), and pruh-DOOS when it means to make or create (verb). Which one is correct depends entirely on the sentence.
Pronounced PROH-doos, "produce" is a noun meaning fruits and vegetables. For example: "The produce looked fresh."
Pronounced pruh-DOOS, "produce" is a verb meaning to make or create. For example: "The factory will produce more."
"Produce" 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 “produce”, browse all 76 heteronyms and stress pairs, or learn how English stress works.