How to pronounce plunge in American English

IPA /plʌndʒ/ Syllables 1 · pluhnj Stress 1st syllable

PLUHNJ

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Americans pronounce plunge as PLUHNJ (/plʌndʒ/). It's 5 sounds in 1 syllable. Every consonant in the cluster gets its turn — no shortcuts in casual American speech.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "plunge".

1 syllable, 5 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

p/p/

Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.

l/l/

Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.

uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

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.

j/dʒ/

Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'zh' position. Add vocal cord vibration.

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Questions

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