k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce conflict in American English
kuhn·FLIHKT
Start here
Americans pronounce conflict as kuhn-FLIHKT (/kənˈflɪkt/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I have a scheduling conflict on Friday afternoon" or "Their personal goals often conflict with their duties" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "conflict".
2 syllables, 8 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.
f/f/
Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.
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.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
In real conversation
Hear "conflict" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"I have a scheduling conflict on Friday afternoon."
ahy hav uh SKEH·joo·luhng KAHN·flihkt ahn FRAHY·day af·ter·NOON
"The charity supports refugees fleeing conflict and persecution."
dhuh CHEH·ruh·tee suh·PORTS REH·fyoo·JEEZ FLEE·uhng KAHN·flihkt and pur·suh·KYOO·shuhn
"The organization provides humanitarian aid to conflict zones."
dhee or·guh·nuh·ZAY·shuhn pruh·VAHYDZ hyoo·ma·nuh·TAIR·ee·uhn AYD tuh KAHN·flihkt ZOHNZ
"Their personal goals often conflict with their duties."
dhair PUR·suh·nuhl GOHLZ AH·fuhn kuhn·FLIHKT wihth dhair DOO·deez
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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 "conflict", the "t" 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.
conflict→kuhn·FLIHKT
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch FLIHKT — keep everything else short and quick.
KUHN·flihkt→kuhn·FLIHKT
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·FLIHKT→kuhn·FLIHKT
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "conflict" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "FLIHKT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "kuhn-FLIHKT" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "conflict" 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-FLIHKT" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "conflict" 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-FLIHKT" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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