k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce costs in American English
KAHSTS
Start here
Americans pronounce costs as KAHSTS (/kɑsts/). In "costs", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as KAHSTS. You'll hear it in sentences like "The main problem is that it costs too much" or "He applied for financial aid to help cover tuition costs" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "costs".
1 syllable, 5 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
In real conversation
Hear "costs" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He applied for financial aid to help cover tuition costs."
hee uh·PLAHYD fer fuh·NAN·shuhl AYD tuh HEHLP KUH·ver too·IH·shuhn KAHSTS
"He fixed the leaky faucet himself to save on repair costs."
hee FIHKST dhuh LEE·kee FAH·suht hihm·SEHLF tuh SAYV ahn ruh·PAIR KAHSTS
"She added insulation to the attic to reduce the heating costs."
shee A·duhd ihn·suh·LAY·shuhn tuh dhee A·duhk tuh ruh·DOOS dhuh HEE·duhng KAHSTS
"She prefers to carpool with coworkers to save on fuel costs."
shee pruh·FURZ tuh KAR·pool wihth koh·WUR·kerz tuh SAYV ahn FYOO·uhl KAHSTS
"Small businesses are struggling with rising operational costs."
SMAHL BIHZ·nuh·suhz er STRUH·gluhng wihth RAHY·zuhng ah·puh·RAY·shuh·nuhl KAHSTS
"The main problem is that it costs too much."
dhuh MAYN PRAH·bluhm ihz dhuht iht KAHSTS TOO muhch
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "costs", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
costs→KAHSTS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "costs" 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 "KAHSTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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