welz
/wɛlz/
wells is pronounced welz (/wɛlz/). Wells is a plural noun or verb form referring to underground reservoirs or natural springs, or the third-person singular present tense of “well.” It denotes sources of water, or figuratively, places where something emerges or accumulates. In everyday speech, it commonly appears in phrases like “oil wells” or “wells up with emotion.” The term is short, crisp, and often used in technical, environmental, or descriptive contexts.
Wells is a plural noun or verb form referring to underground reservoirs or natural springs, or the third-person singular present tense of “well.” It denotes sources of water, or figuratively, places where something emerges or accumulates. In everyday speech, it commonly appears in phrases like “oil wells” or “wells up with emotion.” The term is short, crisp, and often used in technical, environmental, or descriptive contexts.
"The town relies on several oil wells to meet its energy needs."
"Warm rainwater gathered from the hills fills the wells after the storm."
"His eyes wells with tears as he recounted the tale."
Pronounce as /wɛlz/ in US/UK/AU. The initial /w/ is a bilabial-velar approximant, followed by the short vowel /ɛ/ as in “bed,” then the final /lz/ cluster where /l/ appears with the following voiced /z/. The syllable is one beat: WELLZ. Mouth posture is rounded lips lightly for /w/, jaw drops slightly for /ɛ/, tongue near the lower teeth for /l/, and the vocal cords vibrate for /z/. You’ll hear a crisp z-score at the end when spoken in natural pace.
Common errors include pronouncing /w/ too strongly as a rounded vowel, causing a w-ʌ-lz or w-iz effect, and over-sibilating the /s/ after /l/, producing /z/ or /s/ confusion. A frequent slip is turning /l/ into a vowel before the /z/, like /welz/ to /weɪlz/. To correct, keep the /l/ light and ensure the /z/ is voiced with steady airflow, not a hiss. Practice with minimal pairs to stabilize the final consonant cluster.
In US and UK, /wɛlz/ is very similar, with slight vowel differences: US /ɛ/ can be more centralized, while UK /ɛ/ may be a cleaner short-e; rhoticity doesn’t affect this word much. Australian speakers typically keep the same /ɛ/ but may have softer /l/ or a slightly broader vowel due to Australian English vowel shifts. The final /lz/ cluster remains voiced; any variation tends to be in length and intonation rather than the segment itself.
The difficulty lies in the final /lz/ consonant cluster, which requires precise voicing continuity from /l/ into /z/. Many learners mispronounce the /l/ as a vowel or produce an unvoiced /s/ after the /l/. Also, the short /ɛ/ vowel can be mis-timed, leading to a misaligned rhythm between the vowel and the consonant cluster. Maintaining steady air through both consonants, and linking the /l/ to the /z/ without a vowel break, is the core challenge.
The unique aspect is the tightly coupled /l/+/z/ cluster following a short front vowel. Unlike many other -ells words where /l/ can be lightly elided, wells requires a crisp, held /l/ sound that flows into a voiced /z/. This makes the transition from vowel to consonant cluster particularly noticeable and essential for natural-sounding speech.
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- US: Maintain rhoticity with a crisp /ɛ/ and clear /l/ before /z/. Use slightly more open jaw to differentiate from /wɪlz/. - UK: Slightly tenser /ɛ/; ensure non-rhoticity doesn’t affect the ending cluster; keep /l/ light but definite. - AU: Similar to US but with a broader vowel quality; keep /z/ clearly voiced while avoiding vowel elongation. IPA notes: /wɛlz/ across.
Wells derives from the Old English word wella, linked to Proto-Germanic *walōną, implying a spring or stream. Over time, it evolved to denote a natural underground source of water whose surface forms a small pool, often surrounded by a well-built enclosure. The sense broadened to include artificial pits dug to access groundwater or oil, with early references in medieval texts to “well” as a place for drawing water. The plural wells appears naturally when naming multiple sources or instances. In modern usage, wells also appears as a verb meaning to rise, or well up, to surge or come forth, especially in emotions or liquids. First known use in English traces to Old English literature, with earlier Germanic cognates appearing in descriptive phrases about springs and wells in landscape descriptions. The evolution reflects human dependence on groundwater and the expansion of the term into contexts of emotion and figurative speech, preserving the core sense of a containable, accessible source.
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Words that rhyme with "wells"
-lls sounds
-els sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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