It’s hard for me to guess how to pronounce words beginning with re- correctly.
Sometimes it is /rɛ/ as in reference, but sometimes it is /ri/ as in report.
Is there any rule about this?
Learn English – ny rule for pronouncing words beginning with “re-”
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Best Answer
Rule: Use a Dictionary
Yes, there is a rule, and that rule is that you must look them up in a dictionary if you are not a native speaker.
That’s because words beginning with re- in English can, depending on the word, be pronounced with any of eight different vowels:
The last three or four at the end of that list tend to be for native words, while the ones at the beginning tend to be for unassimilated imports.
But in diphthongs like reindeer or reynard — let alone reiter or rearward — all bets are off.
Examples
Here’s an alphabetized sample list, with pronunciation following:
And here grouped by pronunciation:
/ra/
/rɑ̃/
/rɒ/
/re/
/rə/
/rɛ/
/ri/
/rɪ/