uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce examples in American English
uhg·ZAM·puhlz
Start here
Americans pronounce examples as uhg-ZAM-puhlz (/əɡˈzæmpəlz/). In "examples", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. This is called the Cat-Vowel Before M/N, the kind of sound shift that makes everyday speech feel effortless. It comes out as uhg·ZAM·puhlz. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He learned best when he could apply concepts to real examples".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "examples".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
a/æ/
NasalizedThe tongue relaxes down in the back and the corners of the lips relax before the consonant. This adds a schwa-like 'uh' relaxation after the /æ/. Think of it as 'relaxing out of the vowel' — it is no longer a pure /æ/ sound.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
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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
Pronouncing the vowel before M/N too pure.
In "examples", the "a" vowel before M or N raises and fronts toward [eə] — the tongue pulls up and forward, breaking the vowel into a tense glide as it anticipates the nasal. The "/æ/" vowel raises and fronts before M or N — tongue pulls up and forward, producing a tense [eə] glide (between /e/ and /ə/). Not a pure /æ/.
uhg-ZAM-puhlz→uhg·ZAM·puhlz
02
Treating every L the same.
The L in "examples" 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.
examples→uhg·ZAM·puhlz
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch ZAM — keep everything else short and quick.
UHG·zam·PUHLZ→uhg·ZAM·puhlz
04
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UHG·ZAM·puhlz→uhg·ZAM·puhlz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "examples" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "ZAM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhg-ZAM-puhlz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "examples" 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 "uhg-ZAM-puhlz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "examples" 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 "uhg-ZAM-puhlz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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