English has quite a lot of words which have different stress pattern versions. In some cases this is only true of a word in one class and not of other words with the same spelling which belong to another word-class. So, for example, the word access only has different stress versions if it is a verb. The noun of the same spelling is always ˈækses.
When you start messing around with stress, very often the vowels of a word are affected too, as you can see in the table below.
This is only a small selection of variable stress words. I’ll add to it from time to time.
| access | ˈækses | əkˈses | Verb only |
| adult | ˈædʌlt | əˈdʌlt | |
| caravan | ˈkærəvæn | ˌkærəˈvæn | |
| complex | ˈkɒmpleks | kəmˈpleks | Adjective only |
| contribute | ˈkɒntrɪbjuːt | kənˈtrɪbjuːt | |
| controversy | ˈkɒntrəvɜːsi | kənˈtrɒvəsi | |
| distribute | ˈdɪstrɪbjuːt | dɪˈstrɪbjuːt | |
| finance | ˈfaɪnæns | f(a)ɪˈnæns | |
| kilometer | ˈkɪləmiːtə | kɪˈlɒmɪtə | |
| participle | ˈpɑːtɪsɪpl | pɑ:ˈtɪsɪpl | |
| research | ˈriːsɜːtʃ | rɪˈsɜːtʃ | |
| romance | ˈrəʊmæns | rə(ʊ)ˈmæns | |
| submarine | ˈsʌbməriːn | ˌsʌbməˈriːn |
Thanks to Alex Rotatori for comments.
2013_10_07
Updated 2013_10_12