m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce membership in American English
MEHM·ber·shihp
Start here
Americans pronounce membership as MEHM-ber-shihp (/ˈmɛmbərˌʃɪp/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The gym membership gives access to the pool and sauna".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "membership".
3 syllables, 8 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "membership", the "p" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
membership→MEHM·ber·SHIHP
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MEHM — keep everything else short and quick.
mehm·BER·SHIHP→MEHM·ber·SHIHP
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "membership" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MEHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MEHM-ber-shihp" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "membership"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "membership" 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 "MEHM-ber-shihp" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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