drills

IPA /drɪlz/ Syllables 1 · drihlz Stress 1st syllable
DRIHLZ
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Americans pronounce drills as DRIHLZ (/drɪlz/).

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Sounds
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Clarity
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Stress
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Intonation
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Fluency
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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

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".

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.

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Why it sounds different

Why "drills" sounds like DRIHLZ.

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.

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
Same pattern

Words that work the same way.

All of these share phonetic features with this word — same trick.

CHIHL·druhnchildrenDRIHLdrillDRIH·bluhngdribblingDRIHF·tuhddriftedDRIHNGKdrinkDRIHNG·kuhngdrinkingDRIHNGKSdrinksHAN·DRIH·tuhnhandwritten
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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