How to pronounce hooks in American English

IPA /hʊks/ Syllables 1 · huuks Stress 1st syllable

HUUKS

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Americans pronounce hooks as HUUKS (/hʊks/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The wool sweater looked full of hooks".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "hooks".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

h/h/

Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.

uu/ʊ/

Bring the corners of your lips in slightly so they push forward, but keep them relaxed. Lift the back of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "hooks" in the wild.

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

"The wool sweater looked full of hooks."

dhuh WUUL SWEH·der LUUKT FUUL uhv HUUKS

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Questions

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