polls

IPA /poʊlz/ Syllables 1 · pohlz Stress 1st syllable
POHLZ
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Americans pronounce polls as POHLZ (/poʊlz/). The L in "polls" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as POHLZ. You'll hear it in sentences like "Public opinion polls suggest a close race between the candidates".

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Common mistakes

Treating every L the same.

The L in "polls" 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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Sound by sound

Every sound in "polls".

1 syllable, 4 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.

Mouth position for /p/ as in PEN
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.

GO Diphthong mouth position 1 of 2GO Diphthong mouth position 2 of 2
l/l/
Dark

Keep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.

Mouth position for /l/ as in LET
z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

Mouth position for /z/ as in ZOO
In real conversation

Hear "polls" in the wild.

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

"Public opinion polls suggest a close race between the candidates."
PUH·bluhk uh·PIHN·yuhn POHLZ suhg·JEHST uh KLOHS RAYS buh·TWEEN dhuh KAN·duh·dayts
Same pattern

Words that work the same way.

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

duh·SPOH·zuhldisposalpruh·POH·zuhlproposalGOHLZgoalsHOHLZholesHOWS·HOHLDZhouseholdsLOH·kuhlzlocalsROHLZrolesSHOHL·derzshoulders
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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

Treating every L the same.

The L in "polls" 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.

polls→POHLZ
Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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