ch/tʃ/
Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.
How to pronounce chance in American English
CHANS
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Americans pronounce chance as CHANS (/tʃæns/). In "chance", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before M/N, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as CHANS. You'll hear it in sentences like "The intermission gave us a chance to stretch our legs" or "I heard there is a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "chance".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
a/æ/
NasalizedThe tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
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.
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 "chance" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I appreciate you giving me another chance to make things right."
ahy uh·PREE·shee·ayt yoo GIH·vuhng mee uh·NUH·dher CHANS tuh MAYK THIHNGZ RAHYT
"I heard there is a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon."
ahy HURD DHAIR ihz uh CHANS uhv THUHN·der·stormz dhihs af·ter·NOON
"The intermission gave us a chance to stretch our legs."
dhee ihn·ter·MIH·shuhn GAYV uhs uh CHANS tuh STREHCH ar LEHGZ
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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 vowel before M/N too pure.
In "chance", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
CHANS→CHANS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "chance" 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 "CHANS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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