To pronounce "often", say OFF-en — 2 syllables, IPA /ˈɔfən/. Tap play below to hear it in four English accents, or practice it syllable by syllable.
often
Tap to hear · American accent
Accent
If an accent sounds the same, your device is missing that voice — it falls back to the closest one.
Speed
Syllable by syllable — tap each one
Record yourself saying often, then compare with the target. Your audio stays on this device — nothing is uploaded.
2
Syllables
5
Letters
/ˈɔfən/
🇺🇸 IPA (US)
/ˈɒfən/
🇬🇧 IPA (UK)
Break "often" into 2 beats and lean on "OFT" — that's the stressed one. It rhymes with coffin and soften, if that helps it stick.
Sounds exactly like: offen — easy to mix up when writing.
adjective
adverb
“I often walk to work when the weather is nice.”
Real example sentences from Tatoeba (CC-BY) — tap to hear each one, or see it used on YouGlish.
Practicing rhymes trains the same ending sounds.
Related pages on PronounceIt, chosen from what we know about this word.
often — American vs British — the two accents differ on this word.
Train the contrast: bad vs bed, pen vs pan
Sounds worth drilling for a word spelled like this:
Often appears in 50 Most Commonly Mispronounced English Words — others from that list:
Read next: 20 Commonly Mispronounced English Words (and How to Say Them)
To pronounce "often", say OFF-en — 2 syllables, IPA /ˈɔfən/. Tap play below to hear it in four English accents, or practice it syllable by syllable.
"Often" has 2 syllables: oft · en.
The IPA transcription of "often" is /ˈɔfən/.
Often: Frequent.
Want the definition, translations into 8 languages, and read-aloud for full sentences?
Open “often” in the full dictionary →