h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce homesickness in American English
HOHM·sihk·nuhs
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Americans pronounce homesickness as HOHM-sihk-nuhs (/ˈhoʊmˌsɪknəs/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He struggled with homesickness during his first semester away".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "homesickness".
3 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "homesickness", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
homesickness→HOHM·SIHK·nuhs
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch HOHM — keep everything else short and quick.
hohm·SIHK·NUHS→HOHM·SIHK·nuhs
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
HOHM·sihk·NUHS→HOHM·SIHK·nuhs
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "homesickness" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "HOHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "HOHM-sihk-nuhs" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "homesickness" 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 "HOHM-sihk-nuhs" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "homesickness" 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 "HOHM-sihk-nuhs" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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