How to pronounce flow in American English
FLOH
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Americans pronounce flow as FLOH (/floʊ/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "flow" sounds like FLOH.
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 FLOH.
In real conversation
Hear "flow" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Electricity is the flow of electrons through a conductor."
uh·leh·KTRIH·suh·tee ihz dhuh FLOH uhv ih·LEH·ktrahnz throo uh kuhn·DUHK·ter
"I need to work on transitions between paragraphs for better flow."
ahy NEED tuh WURK ahn tran·ZIH·shuhnz buh·TWEEN PAIR·uh·grafs fer BEH·der FLOH
"The traffic flow was affected by the fire."
dhuh TRA·fuhk FLOH wuhz uh·FEHK·tuhd bahy dhuh FAHY·er
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "flow" 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 "FLOH" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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