Stress-Shift Pairs

There are many words in English that are BOTH noun and verb, but they have different stress.
Usually, the noun has a first syllable stress and the verb has a second syllable stress.
The rule is not absolute, though. Some dialects use different stresses on various words, but this is the general list:

  • record
    (N) REcord / (V) reCORD
  • present
    (N) PREsent / (V) preSENT
  • permit
    (N) PERmit / (V) perMIT
  • increase
    (N) INcrease / (V) inCREASE
  • decrease
    (N) DEcrease / (V) deCREASE
  • export
    (N) EXport / (V) exPORT
  • import
    (N) IMport / (V) imPORT
  • object
    (N) OBject / (V) obJECT
  • subject
    (N) SUBject / (V) subJECT
  • project
    (N) PROject / (V) proJECT
  • conduct
    (N) CONduct / (V) conDUCT
  • conflict
    (N) CONflict / (V) conFLICT
  • contrast
    (N) CONtrast / (V) conTRAST
  • progress
    (N) PROgress / (V) proGRESS
  • transfer
    (N) TRANSfer / (V) transFER
  • contract
  • (N) CONtract / (V) conTRACT
  • discount
  • (N) DIScount / (V) disCOUNT
  • survey
  • (N) SURvey / (V) surVEY