How to pronounce cracks in American English

IPA /kræks/ Syllables 1 · kraks Stress 1st syllable

KRAKS

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Americans pronounce cracks as KRAKS (/kræks/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The foundation had cracks that needed to be repaired immediately".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "cracks".

1 syllable, 5 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

a/æ/

Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

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 "cracks" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"The foundation had cracks that needed to be repaired immediately."

dhuh fown·DAY·shuhn had KRAKS dhuht NEE·duhd tuh bee ruh·PAIRD uh·MEE·dee·uht·lee

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Questions

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Is the American pronunciation of "cracks" 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 "KRAKS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.