d/d/
PalatalizedTongue pulls back slightly from the D position, blending into R. Sounds close to 'jr'.
How to pronounce drills in American English
DRIHLZ
Start here
Americans pronounce drills as DRIHLZ (/drɪlz/). In "drills", the "dr" cluster blends into a "jr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. This is called the DR Sounds Like JR, and it's why Americans sound more relaxed than the textbook. It comes out as DRIHLZ. You'll hear it in sentences like "He improved his agility through specific drills" or "They practice passing drills every afternoon to improve coordination" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "drills".
1 syllable, 5 sounds. 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.
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.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "drills" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Emergency drills are scheduled quarterly to ensure everyone knows the procedure."
uh·MUR·juhn·see DRIHLZ er SKEH·juhld KWOR·ter·lee tuh uhn·SHUUR EHV·ree·wuhn NOHZ dhuh pruh·SEE·jer
"He improved his agility through specific drills."
hee uhm·PROOVD hihz uh·JIH·luh·tee throo spuh·SIH·fuhk DRIHLZ
"They practice passing drills every afternoon to improve coordination."
dhay PRAK·tuhs PA·suhng DRIHLZ EHV·ree af·ter·NOON tuh uhm·PROOV koh·or·duh·NAY·shuhn
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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
Saying a clean "dr" instead of a "j" sound.
In "drills", the "dr" cluster blends into a "jr" sound — a natural American English pronunciation. /d/ shifts toward /dʒ/ ("j"), so DR sounds like "jr".
DRIHLZ→DRIHLZ
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "drills" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
drills→DRIHLZ
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "drills" 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 "DRIHLZ" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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