uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce attracts in American English
uh·TRAKTS
Start here
Americans pronounce attracts as uh-TRAKTS (/əˈtrækts/). In "attracts", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as uh·TRAKTS. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The tournament attracts top players from all over the world" or "Gravity is the force that attracts objects toward the center of the earth" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "attracts".
2 syllables, 7 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/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "attracts" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Gravity is the force that attracts objects toward the center of the earth."
GRA·vuh·dee ihz dhuh FORS dhuht uh·TRAKTS AHB·jehkts tuh·WORD dhuh SEHN·ter uhv dhee URTH
"The tournament attracts top players from all over the world."
dhuh TUR·nuh·muhnt uh·TRAKTS TAHP PLAY·erz fruhm AHL OH·ver dhuh WURLD
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "attracts", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
attracts→uh·TRAKTS
02
Saying a clean "tr" instead of a "ch" sound.
In "attracts", the "tr" cluster blends into a "chr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /t/ shifts toward /tʃ/ ("ch"), so TR sounds like "chr".
uh-TRAKTS→uh·TRAKTS
03
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "attracts", 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.
attracts→uh·TRAKTS
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TRAKTS — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·trakts→uh·TRAKTS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "attracts" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TRAKTS" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-TRAKTS" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "attracts" 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-TRAKTS" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "attracts" 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-TRAKTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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