Sound Right

/ʊr/ — the TOUR vowel as in tour, pure, during

Work in progress: R-colored vowels are the trickiest part of English pronunciation. Some words on this page may show unexpected alignments — we're working on improving accuracy.

The /ʊr/ sound is one of the rarest vowels in American English. Many speakers merge it with /ɔr/ (the DOOR vowel), pronouncing tour like tore and sure like shore.

Main spellings (~95%)

⟨ure⟩ ~40%

After most consonants, ⟨ure⟩ includes a /j/ glide: /jʊr/.

pure cure secure

After /l/, /ʃ/, /ʧ/, and /ʤ/, the /j/ drops and it's just /ʊr/.

lure sure ensure assure

⟨ur⟩ ~25%

When ⟨ur⟩ is followed by another vowel, it can produce /ʊr/.

during jury rural plural

⟨our⟩ ~20%

Found in French-derived words.

tour detour contour tourist

⟨oor⟩ ~10%

Only a handful of words use this spelling.

poor moor boor

Unusual spellings (~5%)

⟨eur⟩

In a few words from Greek or French.

neural neuron

/ʊr/ or /ɔr/?

Sound change in progress: Many American speakers now say "poor" and "pour" the same way, merging /ʊr/ into /ɔr/. Both pronunciations are correct. If you hear sure rhyming with shore, that's the /ɔr/ variant.