How to pronounce move in American English

IPA /muv/ Syllables 1 · moov Stress 1st syllable

MOOV

Start here

Americans pronounce move as MOOV (/muv/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Time to move" or "Move the room around" — more examples below.

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "move" 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 "move".

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.

oo/u/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.

v/v/

Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.

In real conversation

Hear "move" in the wild.

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

"Cover the curve with a clever move."

KUH·ver dhuh KURV wihth uh KLEH·ver MOOV

"Her decision to move to a new city was a surprise."

her duh·SIH·zhuhn tuh MOOV tuh uh noo SIH·dee wuhz uh ser·PRAHYZ

"I hope we can put this behind us and move forward together."

ahy HOHP wee kuhn PUUT dhihs buh·HAHYND uhs and MOOV FOR·werd tuh·GEH·dher

"Move the loose tool to the new room soon."

MOOV dhuh LOOS TOOL tuh dhuh noo ROOM SOON

"Move the messy map to the middle."

MOOV dhuh MEH·see MAP tuh dhuh MIH·duhl

"She asked if we could move the lunch to an earlier time."

shee ASKT ihf wee kuud MOOV dhuh LUHNCH tuh uhn UR·lee·er TAHYM

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 "move" 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 "MOOV" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.