k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce conclusion in American English
kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce conclusion as kuhn-KLOO-zhuhn (/kənˈkluʒən/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Conclusion of the occasion was casually done" or "I highlighted the limitations of the study in my conclusion" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "conclusion" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "conclusion".
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.
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.
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.
oo/u/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.
zh/ʒ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Add vocal cord vibration.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
In real conversation
Hear "conclusion" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Conclusion of the occasion was casually done."
kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn uhv dhee uh·KAY·zhuhn wuhz KA·zhuh·lee DUHN
"I highlighted the limitations of the study in my conclusion."
ahy HAHY·lahy·duhd dhuh lih·muh·TAY·shuhnz uhv dhuh STUH·dee ihn mahy kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn
"The conclusion should summarize your main points effectively."
dhuh kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn shuud SUH·muh·rahyz yer MAYN POYNTS uh·FEHK·tuhv·lee
"The conclusion summarizes the main findings of the research."
dhuh kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn SUH·muh·rahy·zuhz dhuh MAYN FAHYN·duhngz uhv dhuh REE·surch
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "conclusion", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
conclusion→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch KLOO — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHN·kloo·ZHUHN→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn
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.
KUHN·KLOO·zhuhn→kuhn·KLOO·zhuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "conclusion" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "KLOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "conclusion" 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 "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "conclusion" 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 "kuhn-KLOO-zhuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "conclusion". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.