How to pronounce rain in American English

IPA /reɪn/ Syllables 1 · rayn Stress 1st syllable

RAYN

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Americans pronounce rain as RAYN (/reɪn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Real rain" or "Wait for the rain" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "rain".

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.

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.

In real conversation

Hear "rain" in the wild.

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

"Because of the rain, the roads are slick."

buh·KUHZ uhv dhuh RAYN dhuh ROHDZ er SLIHK

"He drove carefully because the roads were slippery from the rain."

hee DROHV KAIR·fuh·lee buh·KUHZ dhuh ROHDZ wer SLIH·per·ee fruhm dhuh RAYN

"He forgot his umbrella and got completely soaked in the rain."

hee fer·GAHT hihz uhm·BREH·luh and GAHT kuhm·PLEET·lee SOHKT ihn dhuh RAYN

"He uses a rain barrel to collect water for his garden."

hee YOO·zuhz uh RAYN BA·ruhl tuh kuh·LEHKT WAH·der fer hihz GAR·dn

"Is it supposed to rain tomorrow?"

ihz iht suh·POHZD tuh RAYN tuh·MAH·roh

"Real rain."

REE·uhl RAYN

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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