How to pronounce miss in American English

IPA /mɪs/ Syllables 1 · mihs Stress 1st syllable

MIHS

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Americans pronounce miss as MIHS (/mɪs/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I miss the kid" or "I really miss you when you're away" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "miss".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

m/m/

Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.

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.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "miss" in the wild.

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

"Employees are encouraged to report near-miss incidents without fear of punishment."

uhm·PLOY·eez er ihn·KUR·ihjd tuh ruh·PORT NEER MIHS IHN·suh·duhnts wih·DHOWT FEER uhv PUH·nuhsh·muhnt

"I miss the kid."

ahy MIHS dhuh KIHD

"I really miss you when you're away."

ahy RIH·lee MIHS yuh wehn yer uh·WAY

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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