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 overcome in American English
oh·ver·KUHM
Start here
Americans pronounce overcome as oh-ver-KUHM (/ˌoʊvərˈkʌm/). Stress falls on the third syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Let's leverage each other's strengths to overcome this obstacle".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "overcome".
3 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
er/ər/
Relax your mouth and lift the tongue back and up. Keep the lips neutral.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
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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 third syllable, not the others. Stretch KUHM — keep everything else short and quick.
OH·VER·kuhm→OH·ver·KUHM
02
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "overcome" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the third syllable — say "KUHM" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "oh-ver-KUHM" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "overcome"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "overcome" 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 "oh-ver-KUHM" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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