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 athletes in American English
ATH·leets
Start here
Americans pronounce athletes as ATH-leets (/ˈæθˌlits/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The medal ceremony honored the top three athletes".
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Every sound in "athletes".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
th/θ/
Place the very tip of your tongue slightly between your teeth. Blow air gently around it without voicing.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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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 ATH — keep everything else short and quick.
ath·LEETS→ATH·LEETS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "athletes" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "ATH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ATH-leets" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "athletes" 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 "ATH-leets" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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