pole

IPA /poʊl/ Syllables 1 · pohl Stress 1st syllable
POHL
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Americans pronounce pole as POHL (/poʊl/).

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Sounds
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Clarity
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Stress
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Intonation
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Fluency
62%

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72% Noticeable accent

Common mistakes

Treating every L the same.

The L in "pole" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.

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Why it sounds different

Why "pole" sounds like POHL.

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 tiny act of laziness that makes the rhythm feel right. It comes out as POHL.

In real conversation

Hear "pole" in the wild.

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

"Don't pull the metal pole into the swimming pool."
DOHNT PUUL dhuh MEH·duhl POHL ihn·tuh dhuh SWIH·muhng POOL
"He tried to pull himself out of the pool using a pole."
hee TRAHYD tuh PUUL hihm·SEHLF OWT uhv dhuh POOL YOO·zuhng uh POHL
"Pull the long pole out of the deep pool."
PUUL dhuh lahng POHL OWT uhv dhuh DEEP POOL
"The water in the pool is too cold to pull the pole out."
dhuh WAH·der ihn dhuh POOL ihz TOO KOHLD tuh PUUL dhuh POHL OWT
"You must pull hard on the pole to drain the pool."
yoo muhst PUUL HARD ahn dhuh POHL tuh DRAYN dhuh POOL
Same pattern

Words that work the same way.

All of these share phonetic features with this word — same trick.

HOHP·fuhlhopefulpuh·ROHLparolepuh·TROHLpatrolPOHLZpollsPROH·FAHYLprofilepruh·POH·zuhlproposalAHL·MOHSTalmostAHL·sohalso
Watch out

Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.

The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.

01

Treating every L the same.

The L in "pole" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.

pole→POHL
Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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