ahy/aɪ/
Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.
How to pronounce identical in American English
ahy·DEHN·tuh·kuhl
Start here
Americans pronounce identical as ahy-DEHN-tuh-kuhl (/aɪˈdɛntəkəl/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "identical".
4 syllables, 9 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
eh/ɛ/
Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.
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.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
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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 second syllable, not the others. Stretch DEHN — keep everything else short and quick.
AHY·dehn·TUH·KUHL→ahy·DEHN·tuh·kuhl
02
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.
ahy·DEHN·TUH·kuhl→ahy·DEHN·tuh·kuhl
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "identical" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "DEHN" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "ahy-DEHN-tuh-kuhl" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "identical" 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 "ahy-DEHN-tuh-kuhl" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "identical" 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 "ahy-DEHN-tuh-kuhl" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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