uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce avoids in American English
uh·VOYDZ
Start here
Americans pronounce avoids as uh-VOYDZ (/əˈvɔɪdz/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Organic farming avoids the use of synthetic pesticides".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "avoids".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
oy/ɔɪ/
Start with rounded lips and tongue shifted back. Glide to relaxed lips with the tongue arching forward and up.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch VOYDZ — keep everything else short and quick.
UH·voydz→uh·VOYDZ
02
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·VOYDZ→uh·VOYDZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "avoids" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "VOYDZ" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uh-VOYDZ" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "avoids" 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-VOYDZ" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "avoids" 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-VOYDZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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