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.
How to pronounce oak in American English
OHK
Start here
Americans pronounce oak as OHK (/oʊk/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The oak tree provided a home for many squirrels".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "oak".
1 syllable, 2 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "oak", 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.
oak→OHK
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "oak" 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 "OHK" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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