m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
How to pronounce movie in American English
MOO·vee
Start here
Americans pronounce movie as MOO-vee (/ˈmuvi/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "I haven't seen that movie yet" or "What time does the movie start?" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "movie".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "movie" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Do you want to watch a movie or play a game?"
doo yoo WAHNT tuh WAHCH uh MOO·vee or PLAY uh GAYM
"Emma remembered the name of the movie."
EH·muh ruh·MEHM·berd dhuh NAYM uhv dhuh MOO·vee
"He collects vintage movie posters from the golden age of cinema."
hee kuh·LEHKTS VIHN·tuhj MOO·vee POH·sterz fruhm dhuh GOHL·duhn AYJ uhv SIH·nuh·muh
"I haven't seen that movie yet."
ahy HA·vuhnt SEEN dhat MOO·vee yeht
"I was disappointed when the movie adaptation changed the ending."
ahy wuhz dih·suh·POYN·tuhd wehn dhuh MOO·vee a·duhp·TAY·shuhn CHAYNJD dhee EHN·duhng
"She felt sad when the movie ended."
shee FEHLT SAD wehn dhuh MOO·vee EHN·duhd
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch MOO — keep everything else short and quick.
moo·VEE→MOO·vee
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "movie" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "MOO" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "MOO-vee" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "movie" 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 "MOO-vee" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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