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 exhale in American English
ehks·HAYL
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Americans pronounce exhale as ehks-HAYL (/ɛksˈheɪl/). The L in "exhale" 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, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as ehks·HAYL. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Inhale the healthy air and exhale the hate".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "exhale".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
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.
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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
Treating every L the same.
The L in "exhale" 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.
exhale→ehks·HAYL
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch HAYL — keep everything else short and quick.
EHKS·hayl→ehks·HAYL
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "exhale" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "HAYL" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ehks-HAYL" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "exhale" 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 "ehks-HAYL" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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