How to pronounce "restore"? As "Ree-store" or "Ruh-store"?

In a Canadian (and subsequently, American) accent, it is pronounced /rɪˈstɔr/ “Rih-store” I’m pretty sure the first part is like that in British English too, with the ending being different.

You'll hear both, even within the same region. Neither is any more correct

I’d say ree-store (northern England)

The stress is on the second syllable (ri-STOR). This means the first syllable is unstressed. If you're not sure how to pronounce an unstressed syllable in any English word, it is *usually* a /Ə/ sound (like 'the' or 'an') or a /ɪ/ sound (like 'bit'). For most English speakers, 'restore' would have the /ɪ/ sound first, but it doesn't matter much because it's unstressed.

If I’m speaking carefully, or placing emphasis on the word: “ree-store”. In casual use it often melds into another sound (“ruh” or “rih”) just because it takes less effort to say.

Midwest US It depends for me based on what I’m restoring. I don’t do it consciously, I just know it happens because it only sounds right that way with those types of contexts. I’m going to assume that either way you say it will be fine. Also, it’s more like the other comment, “rih-Stor” instead of “ruh-Stor.” And neither of these tidbits matter, but this is how my brain works: Reestore is mostly used with healing in video games. Or if it’s the first word in the statement. Rihstore is for every other context, though I hardly ever really used it otherwise.

For me, it depends on whether it's a verb or an adjective. There's a very slight difference, but it's there and I can hear it. Rih-store - verb (We are going to rih-store the car.) It's more like a rih sound to me, same i as in the word fit. Ruh-store - adjective (It's a ruh-stored car.) Ree-store, only when you're talking about the Habitat for Humanity Re-store. Of course, now I'm overthinking it...

In British English the first vowel would be either the ship vowel (risstore) or the schwa sound as in "the" or at the beginning of "about", which in US English is often indistinguishable from the uh sound you suggested. In British English uh is quite different from the schwa so if you used "uh" as in "fun" it would sound very strange. Definitely not ree-store though.

Rih-stor /rɪstɔː/

both are perfectly fine i say both interchangeably

The prefixes re-, pre-, and de- (when not pronounced with the vowel sound /ɛ/, as in *recreation*, *preparation*, or *deposition*, or receiving primary emphasis as /iː/, as in nouns *reshoot*, *preview*, *detox*), at least in the U.S., exist on a spectrum where any one speaker may use all three pronunciations 'ee' /i/, 'ih' /ɨ/, or 'uh' /ə/ just depending on tone, emphasis, place in the sentence, etc. Which one is used is not systematic. But /ɨ/ is most common: *review*, *prepare*, *depose*.

Ruh-Store

It'll depend on the speaker and will also vary within speakers based on the actual utterance. The mental representation is like "ree" but phonological rules will generally reduce this to something like \[ɨ̞\] - but reductions like this don't always result in the exact same form!

In UK english, it’s Ris-store.

I say ruh-store for the verb, rih-store for the adjective, and for the store I’ve been to with that name I say re-store

For restoration the first syllable is stressed so it’s like RES-tuh-RAY-tion or [ˌɹes.təˈɹeɪ̯.ɕn̩].

Either, really. I wouldn’t bat an eye at either pronunciation. I’d personally say it as ‘ree-store’.

Lots of folks in the Southern US say ree-store. I think ruh-Store is more common worldwide.

I say "ruh-store" when I use it as a verb, "ree-store(d)" when it's an adjective. Both sound perfectly acceptable to me, though.

I do voiceover work and often use the ree-STOR sound when at work as it is seen as clear annunciation that projects into a microphone well, but there are still nuances to creating that sound and not making it sound forced, even when placing the accented syllable correctly. That being said, in day-to-day conversational speech, it’s a toss up. I would wager that I probably still use the “ree” sound more than the average person since I spend hours a day recording my voice and being hyper-aware of how every syllable and inflection sounds, but I definitely use the “ruh” sound more in conversation. Either way, I don’t think very many people would really find it off-putting however you choose to say it as long as you don’t over-annunciate the sound in a contrived way.

Restore is "REE-store" when used as a noun, "rih-STORE" when used as a verb.

I’d always say reh-Store. UK

Either is fine. The pronunciation changes from place to place.

This is a big question because its, stress pattern based. English has alternating stress, which ends up changing stress patterns of other words

Either is fine, but my natural pronunciation is with the schwa ("uh") sound unless I'm adding emphasis to it.

Neither of those. For me the "re" has the same vowel sound as "risk" and "rhythm". British West Midlands

I'd say *ree-STORE*, with the emphasis on the second syllable. Realistically the "ree" is pretty short, though. It's definitely not a schwa and it does have the "ee" sound, but not as long as is implied by most double-e's. Things get funky when you get to other forms, though: Restoration = *reh-sto-RAY-shun* Restorative = *rih-STOR-a-tiv* Etc.

Depends on how tired you are. American here. Sometimes I feel like I could ree-store a vintage cabinet. And sometimes, I’m just too tired to ruh-store.