n/n/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.
How to pronounce notebook in American English
NOHT·buuk
Start here
Americans pronounce notebook as NOHT-buuk (/ˈnoʊtˌbʊk/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "She recorded all observations in a detailed lab notebook" or "He keeps a notebook to record his observations of plant growth" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "notebook" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "notebook".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
uu/ʊ/
Bring the corners of your lips in slightly so they push forward, but keep them relaxed. Lift the back of your tongue toward the roof of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "notebook" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 "notebook", the "k" 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.
notebook→NOHT·BUUK
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch NOHT — keep everything else short and quick.
noht·BUUK→NOHT·BUUK
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "notebook" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "NOHT" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "NOHT-buuk" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "notebook" 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 "NOHT-buuk" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "notebook". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.