How to pronounce caps in American English

IPA /kæps/ Syllables 1 · kaps Stress 1st syllable

KAPS

Start here

Americans pronounce caps as KAPS (/kæps/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The melting of polar ice caps has accelerated in recent years".

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "caps" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.

Ready when you are

Tap the mic to start

Preview your accent profile

Get your accent profile and 5-axes assessment.

Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

Overall assessment

Our AI coach listens to your recording and grades 5 dimensions of pronunciation — then tells you exactly what to fix next.

72% Noticeable accent

Unlock the full report in the app

Sound by sound

Every sound in "caps".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

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.

p/p/

Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.

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 "caps" in the wild.

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

"The melting of polar ice caps has accelerated in recent years."

dhuh MEHL·tuhng uhv POH·ler AHYS KAPS huhz uhk·SEH·luh·ray·duhd ihn REE·suhnt YEERZ

Find another

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Search the entire library

Press / anywhere to focus the search box.

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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