How to pronounce clean in American English

IPA /klin/ Syllables 1 · kleen Stress 1st syllable

KLEEN

Start here

Americans pronounce clean as KLEEN (/klin/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Keep the street clean" or "Please clean up this area" — more examples below.

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "clean" 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 "clean".

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.

l/l/

Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

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 "clean" in the wild.

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

"Can you please clean up your bedroom?"

kuhn yoo PLEEZ KLEEN UHP yer BEH·droom

"Clean the pan and then join the plan."

KLEEN dhuh PAN and dhehn JOYN dhuh PLAN

"I always clean the kitchen as I go to avoid a big mess."

ahy AHL·wayz KLEEN dhuh KIH·chuhn uhz ahy GOH tuh uh·VOYD uh BIHG MEHS

"Keep the street clean."

KEEP dhuh STREET KLEEN

"Please clean up this area."

PLEEZ KLEEN UHP DHIHS AIR·ee·uh

"Please keep your feet off the clean seat."

PLEEZ KEEP yer FEET AHF dhuh KLEEN SEET

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 "clean" 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 "KLEEN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.