uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce inspiring in American English
uhn·SPAHY·ruhng
Start here
Americans pronounce inspiring as uhn-SPAHY-ruhng (/ənˈspaɪrɪŋ/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The team's collaborative spirit has been inspiring to witness".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "inspiring".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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.
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.
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.
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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 SPAHY — keep everything else short and quick.
UHN·spahy·RUHNG→uhn·SPAHY·ruhng
02
Pronouncing the first 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.
UHN·SPAHY·ruhng→uhn·SPAHY·ruhng
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "inspiring" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "SPAHY" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhn-SPAHY-ruhng" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "inspiring" 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 "uhn-SPAHY-ruhng" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "inspiring" 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 "uhn-SPAHY-ruhng" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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