How to pronounce knees in American English

IPA /niz/ Syllables 1 · neez Stress 1st syllable

NEEZ

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Americans pronounce knees as NEEZ (/niz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "She runs on the elliptical machine to reduce impact on her knees".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "knees".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. 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.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

In real conversation

Hear "knees" in the wild.

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

"She runs on the elliptical machine to reduce impact on her knees."

shee RUHNZ ahn dhee uh·LIHP·tuh·kuhl muh·SHEEN tuh ruh·DOOS IHM·pakt ahn her NEEZ

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Questions

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