k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
How to pronounce crossword in American English
KRAHS·wurd
Start here
Americans pronounce crossword as KRAHS-wurd (/ˈkrɑsˌwɜrd/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I enjoy solving complex crossword puzzles to keep my mind sharp".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "crossword".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
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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 "crossword", the "d" 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.
crossword→KRAHS·WURD
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch KRAHS — keep everything else short and quick.
krahs·WURD→KRAHS·WURD
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "crossword" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "KRAHS" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "KRAHS-wurd" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "crossword"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "crossword" 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 "KRAHS-wurd" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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