uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce attract in American English
uh·TRAKT
Start here
Americans pronounce attract as uh-TRAKT (/əˈtrækt/). In "attract", the "tr" cluster blends into a "chr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. This is called the TR Sounds Like CHR, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as uh·TRAKT. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Magnetism is a force that can attract or repel objects" or "He set up a bird feeder in his backyard to attract finches" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "attract".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
t/t/
PalatalizedTongue pulls back slightly from the T position, blending into R. Sounds close to 'chr'.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "attract" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
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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
Saying a clean "tr" instead of a "ch" sound.
In "attract", the "tr" cluster blends into a "chr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /t/ shifts toward /tʃ/ ("ch"), so TR sounds like "chr".
uh-TRAKT→uh·TRAKT
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "attract", the "t" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
attract→uh·TRAKT
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TRAKT — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·trakt→uh·TRAKT
04
Pronouncing the first 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.
UH·TRAKT→uh·TRAKT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "attract" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TRAKT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-TRAKT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "attract" 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 "uh-TRAKT" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "attract" 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 "uh-TRAKT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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