eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
How to pronounce embezzlement in American English
ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt
Start here
Americans pronounce embezzlement as ehm-BEH-zuhl-muhnt (/ɛmˈbɛzəlmənt/). The L in "embezzlement" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, a hallmark of natural-sounding American speech. It comes out as ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The grand jury indicted him on multiple counts of embezzlement".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "embezzlement" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "embezzlement".
4 syllables, 11 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Treating every L the same.
The L in "embezzlement" 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.
embezzlement→ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "embezzlement", the "t" 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.
embezzlement→ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt
03
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "embezzlement", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
embezzlement→ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt
04
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch BEH — keep everything else short and quick.
EHM·beh·ZUHL·MUHNT→ehm·BEH·zuhl·muhnt
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "embezzlement" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "BEH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ehm-BEH-zuhl-muhnt" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "embezzlement" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "ehm-BEH-zuhl-muhnt" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "embezzlement" 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 "ehm-BEH-zuhl-muhnt" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "embezzlement". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.