g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce growing in American English
GROH·uhng
Start here
Americans pronounce growing as GROH-uhng (/ˈgroʊəŋ/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The renewable energy sector is growing rapidly" or "The soil is rich and fertile for growing crops" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "growing" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "growing".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
ng/ŋ/
Lift the back of your tongue to the soft palate. Lower your soft palate to let air flow through your nose.
In real conversation
Hear "growing" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The harvest festival celebrates the end of the growing season."
dhuh HAR·vuhst FEH·stuh·vuhl SEH·luh·brayts dhee EHND uhv dhuh GROH·uhng SEE·zuhn
"The renewable energy sector is growing rapidly."
dhuh ruh·NOO·uh·buhl EH·ner·jee SEHK·ter ihz GROH·uhng RA·puhd·lee
"The soil is rich and fertile for growing crops."
dhuh SOYL ihz rihch and FUR·duhl fer GROH·uhng KRAHPS
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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch GROH — keep everything else short and quick.
groh·UHNG→GROH·uhng
02
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.
GROH·UHNG→GROH·uhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "growing" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "GROH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "GROH-uhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "growing" 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 "GROH-uhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "growing" 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 "GROH-uhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "growing". 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.