k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce closing in American English
KLOH·zuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce closing as KLOH-zuhng (/ˈkloʊzəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The bank is closing in ten minutes" or "The closing ceremony marked the end of the games" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "closing".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then 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.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "closing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The bank is closing in ten minutes."
dhuh BANGK ihz KLOH·zuhng ihn TEHN MIH·nuhts
"The closing ceremony marked the end of the games."
dhuh KLOH·zuhng SEH·ruh·moh·nee MARKT dhee EHND uhv dhuh GAYMZ
"The theater was packed for the closing night of the show."
dhuh THEE·uh·der wuhz PAKT fer dhuh KLOH·zuhng NAHYT uhv dhuh SHOH
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch KLOH — keep everything else short and quick.
kloh·ZUHNG→KLOH·zuhng
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
KLOH·ZUHNG→KLOH·zuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "closing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KLOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KLOH-zuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "closing" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "KLOH-zuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "closing" 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 "KLOH-zuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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