What is the correct pronunciations of "close" as a verb and an adjective and please provide examples of rhyming words

Question

Does the word close sound most like nose or dose in the sentence below?

"Tina tried to stand close to the fire to keep warm."

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I know that close is pronounced clo/s/ with an "s" sound at the end when used as an adjective, as in the sentence above; therefore, it should sound most like the word "dose" (pronounced do/s/).

When close is used as a verb, as in "I will close the door", it is pronounced as clo/z/ with a "z" sound at the end; therefore, "close" as a verb would sound like the word "nose" (pronounced no/z/). This is not the case in the sentence above. My 3rd grade son was given this question on his test and I believe the teacher is just going by the answer key to the assessment and will not mark his answer that "close" sounds like "dose" in the sentence as correct.

*Do you have a link to a good explanation of the pronunciation that I can provide his teacher? Apparently his teacher already looked up the word in the dictionary and still does not understand why the answer is dose and not nose.

Answer 1

Hi Jennifer,

You're absolutely right in this case--"close" is a heteronym ("two or more words that are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanings"). If you look up "close" on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (sorry, I'd like it, but I'm not sure links are allowed on these posts), first, you'll see the verb entry, pronounced similar to 'nose.' However, if you scroll down, you'll find the adjective definition of 'close,' which as you noted, is pronounced more similarly to 'dose.' The MW dictionary even has the phonetic pronunciations you can use to support your point, including phonetic spellings similar to the ones you used in your example.

If you want to take it a step further, just search up "close heteronyms"--you'll find plenty of articles supporting your point. Best of luck!