a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
How to pronounce alcohol in American English
AL·kuh·hahl
Start here
Americans pronounce alcohol as AL-kuh-hahl (/ˈælkəˌhɔl/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "alcohol" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "alcohol".
3 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch AL — keep everything else short and quick.
al·KUH·HAHL→AL·kuh·HAHL
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
AL·KUH·hahl→AL·kuh·HAHL
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "alcohol" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "AL" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "AL-kuh-hahl" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "alcohol" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "AL-kuh-hahl" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "alcohol" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "AL-kuh-hahl" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "alcohol". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.