How to pronounce flew in American English

IPA /flu/ Syllables 1 · floo Stress 1st syllable

FLOO

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Americans pronounce flew as FLOO (/flu/).

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Why it sounds different

Why "flew" sounds like FLOO.

Between "" and "", a brief "" glide bridges the two vowels for smooth flow. This is called the Vowel-to-Vowel Linking, a tiny act of laziness that makes the rhythm feel right. It comes out as FLOO.

In real conversation

Hear "flew" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"The bad bat flew over the wooden bed."

dhuh BAD BAT FLOO OH·ver dhuh WUU·duhn BEHD

"We knew the bird flew through the new house."

wee NOO dhuh BURD FLOO throo dhuh NOO HOWS

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "flew" 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 "FLOO" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.