How to pronounce ghost in American English

IPA /goʊst/ Syllables 1 · gohst Stress 1st syllable

GOHST

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Americans pronounce ghost as GOHST (/goʊst/).

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

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Intonation

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Why it sounds different

Why "ghost" sounds like GOHST.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, a connected-speech trick that makes phrases flow. It comes out as GOHST.

In real conversation

Hear "ghost" in the wild.

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

"Ignore the angry ghost in the grey garage."

uhg·NOR dhee ANG·gree GOHST ihn dhuh GRAY guh·RAHZH

"Most of the post was about the ghost host."

MOHST uhv dhuh POHST wuhz uh·BOWT dhuh GOHST HOHST

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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