k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce completing in American English
kuhm·PLEE·tuhng
Start here
Americans pronounce completing as kuhm-PLEE-tuhng (/kəmˈpliɾɪŋ/). In "completing", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. This is called the Flap T, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as kuhm·PLEE·tuhng. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He earned extra credit by completing the optional assignment" or "I rewarded myself after completing challenging study sessions" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "completing".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
t/t/
FlapQuickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.
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 "completing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He earned extra credit by completing the optional assignment."
hee URND EHK·struh KREH·duht bahy kuhm·PLEE·tuhng dhee AHP·shuh·nuhl uh·SAHYN·muhnt
"I rewarded myself after completing challenging study sessions."
ahy ruh·WOR·duhd mahy·SEHLF AF·ter kuhm·PLEE·tuhng CHA·luhn·juhng STUH·dee SEH·shuhnz
"She felt confident after completing the practice tests at home."
shee FEHLT KAHN·fuh·duhnt AF·ter kuhm·PLEE·tuhng dhuh PRAK·tuhs TEHSTS uht HOHM
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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
Saying a hard "T" in the middle.
In "completing", the "t" between vowels sounds like a quick "d" — the tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth. /t/ or /d/ becomes a quick tap [ɾ] — sounds like a soft D. The tongue briefly taps the ridge behind the upper teeth.
kuhm-PLEE-tuhng→kuhm·PLEE·tuhng
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch PLEE — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHM·plee·TUHNG→kuhm·PLEE·tuhng
03
Pronouncing the first 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.
KUHM·PLEE·tuhng→kuhm·PLEE·tuhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "completing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "PLEE" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhm-PLEE-tuhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "completing"?
In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "completing" sounds closer to "kuhm-PLEE-tuhng" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.
Why does the first syllable in "completing" 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 "kuhm-PLEE-tuhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "completing" 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 "kuhm-PLEE-tuhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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