h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce hometown in American English
HOHM·town
Start here
Americans pronounce hometown as HOHM-town (/ˈhoʊmˌtaʊn/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I have mixed emotions about leaving my hometown behind".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "hometown".
2 syllables, 6 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.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
ow/aʊ/
Start with a dropped jaw and flat tongue. Glide into a relaxed, slightly rounded lip position as the back of the tongue stretches up.
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.
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch HOHM — keep everything else short and quick.
hohm·TOWN→HOHM·TOWN
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "hometown" 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-town" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "hometown" 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-town" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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