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 exhibition in American English
ehk·suh·BIH·shuhn
Start here
Americans pronounce exhibition as ehk-suh-BIH-shuhn (/ˌɛksəˈbɪʃən/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The museum is hosting an exhibition of impressionist paintings".
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "exhibition" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "exhibition".
4 syllables, 9 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.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
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.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
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.
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
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "exhibition", 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.
exhibition→EHK·suh·BIH·shuhn
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the third syllable, not the others. Stretch BIH — keep everything else short and quick.
EHK·SUH·bih·SHUHN→EHK·suh·BIH·shuhn
03
Pronouncing the unstressed 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.
ehk·SUH·BIH·shuhn→EHK·suh·BIH·shuhn
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "exhibition" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "BIH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ehk-suh-BIH-shuhn" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "exhibition" 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 "ehk-suh-BIH-shuhn" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "exhibition" 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 "ehk-suh-BIH-shuhn" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "exhibition". 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.