How to pronounce mom in American English

IPA /mɑm/ Syllables 1 · mahm Stress 1st syllable

MAHM

Start here

Americans pronounce mom as MAHM (/mɑm/). You'll hear it in sentences like "My mom is mad" or "I need to call my mom, schedule an appointment, and finish this report" — more examples below.

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "mom" 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

Unlock the full report in the app

Sound by sound

Every sound in "mom".

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.

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.

m/m/

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

In real conversation

Hear "mom" in the wild.

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

"I need to call my mom, schedule an appointment, and finish this report."

ahy NEED tuh KAHL mahy MAHM SKEH·juhl uhn uh·POYNT·muhnt and FIH·nuhsh dhihs ruh·PORT

"My mom is mad."

mahy MAHM ihz MAD

Find another

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Search the entire library

Press / anywhere to focus the search box.

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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