How to pronounce bone in American English

IPA /boʊn/ Syllables 1 · bohn Stress 1st syllable

BOHN

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Americans pronounce bone as BOHN (/boʊn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Lifting weights builds muscle mass and bone density".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "bone".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

b/b/

Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.

oh/oʊ/

Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

In real conversation

Hear "bone" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"Lifting weights builds muscle mass and bone density."

LIHF·tuhng WAYTS BIHLDZ MUH·suhl MAS and BOHN DEHN·suh·tee

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "bone" 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 "BOHN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.