k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce cleared in American English
KLEERD
Start here
Americans pronounce cleared as KLEERD (/klɪrd/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Mere tears cleared the weary atmosphere" or "He cleared out the garage and organized all the tools" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "cleared".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
eer/ɪr/
Start with the high 'ih' position. Pull the tongue back and up while flaring the lips slightly.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "cleared" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He cleared out the garage and organized all the tools."
hee KLEERD OWT dhuh guh·RAHZH and OR·guh·nahyzd AHL dhuh TOOLZ
"Mere tears cleared the weary atmosphere."
MEER TEERZ KLEERD dhuh WEER·ee AT·muhs·feer
"The morning fog cleared up by noon and it became beautiful."
dhuh MOR·nuhng FAHG KLEERD UHP bahy NOON and iht buh·KAYM BYOO·tuh·fuhl
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "cleared", the "d" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
cleared→KLEERD
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "cleared"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "cleared" 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 "KLEERD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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