How to pronounce pace in American English

IPA /peɪs/ Syllables 1 · pays Stress 1st syllable

PAYS

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Americans pronounce pace as PAYS (/peɪs/).

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Why it sounds different

Why "pace" sounds like PAYS.

The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, a connected-speech trick that makes phrases flow. It comes out as PAYS.

In real conversation

Hear "pace" in the wild.

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

"He struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the lesson."

hee STRUH·guhld tuh KEEP UHP wihth dhuh FAST PAYS uhv dhuh LEH·suhn

"Wage growth has not kept pace with the rising cost of living."

WAYJ GROHTH huhz NAHT KEHPT PAYS wihth dhuh RAHY·zuhng kahst uhv LIH·vuhng

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "pace" 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 "PAYS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.