How to pronounce lottery in American English

IPA /ˈlɑɾəri/ Syllables 3 · lah·tuh·ree Stress 1st syllable

LAH·tuh·ree

Start here

Americans pronounce lottery as LAH-tuh-ree (/ˈlɑɾəri/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick.

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "lottery" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.

Ready when you are

Tap the mic to start

Preview your accent profile

Get your accent profile and 5-axes assessment.

Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

Overall assessment

Our AI coach listens to your recording and grades 5 dimensions of pronunciation — then tells you exactly what to fix next.

72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Stressing the wrong syllable.

Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch LAH — keep everything else short and quick.

Pronouncing the unstressed 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.

Unlock the full report in the app

Sound by sound

Every sound in "lottery".

3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

l/l/

Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.

ah/ɑ/

Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.

t/t/

Flap

Quickly bounce the front of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. Don't stop the airflow — just a quick tap.

uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

r/r/

Syllabic

The schwa before R disappears — R becomes the vowel of the syllable. This is the 'er' sound without a distinct vowel before it.

ee/i/

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

Find another

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Search the entire library

Press / anywhere to focus the search box.

Watch out

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.

Stressing the wrong syllable.

Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch LAH — keep everything else short and quick.

lah·TUH·REE→LAH·tuh·ree

Pronouncing the unstressed 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.

LAH·TUH·ree→LAH·tuh·ree

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

How is "lottery" stressed in American English?

Stress falls on the first syllable — say "LAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "LAH-tuh-ree" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.

Why doesn't the T sound like a T in "lottery"?

In American English, when /t/ sits between two vowels with the second one unstressed, it turns into a quick D-like flap. So "lottery" sounds closer to "LAH-tuh-ree" than to a crisp-T pronunciation. This is the flap-T rule, one of the most distinctive sounds of casual American speech.

Why does the second syllable in "lottery" 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 "LAH-tuh-ree" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.

Is the American pronunciation of "lottery" 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 "LAH-tuh-ree" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.

Now you try.

Get your accent profile and 5-axes assessment.

Overall assessment

Common mistakes

Stressing the wrong syllable.

Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.

Every sound in "lottery".

Words that work the same way.

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

Stressing the wrong syllable.

Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.

Questions people ask about this.

Stop reading about "lottery". Start saying it.