p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
How to pronounce pocket in American English
PAH·kuht
Start here
Americans pronounce pocket as PAH-kuht (/ˈpɑkət/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Pick the pack of cards from the back pocket" or "Keep the passport in your pocket for protection" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "pocket".
2 syllables, 5 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
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.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "pocket" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Keep the passport in your pocket for protection."
KEEP dhuh PA·sport ihn yer PAH·kuht fer pruh·TEHK·shuhn
"My keys could be in my pocket, on the counter, or in the car."
mahy KEEZ kuud bee ihn mahy PAH·kuht ahn dhuh KOWN·ter or ihn dhuh KAR
"Pick the pack of cards from the back pocket."
PIHK dhuh PAK uhv KARDZ fruhm dhuh BAK PAH·kuht
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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 "pocket", the "t" 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.
pocket→PAH·kuht
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch PAH — keep everything else short and quick.
pah·KUHT→PAH·kuht
03
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
PAH·KUHT→PAH·kuht
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "pocket" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "PAH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "PAH-kuht" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "pocket" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "PAH-kuht" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "pocket" 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 "PAH-kuht" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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