How to pronounce race in American English

IPA /reɪs/ Syllables 1 · rays Stress 1st syllable

RAYS

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Americans pronounce race as RAYS (/reɪs/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Remembering the reason for the rich race" or "He was disqualified from the race for a false start" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "race".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "race" in the wild.

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

"Discrimination based on race or gender is strictly prohibited."

dih·skrih·muh·NAY·shuhn BAYST ahn RAYS or JEHN·der ihz STRIHKT·lee proh·HIH·buh·tuhd

"He was disqualified from the race for a false start."

hee wuhz dih·SKWAH·luh·fahyd fruhm dhuh RAYS fer uh FAHLS START

"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

"Remembering the reason for the rich race."

ruh·MEHM·ber·uhng dhuh REE·zuhn fer dhuh rihch RAYS

"She set a goal to run a 5k race within three months."

shee SEHT uh GOHL tuh RUHN uh FAHYV·KAY RAYS wuh·DHIHN THREE MUHNTHS

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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