How to pronounce reads in American English

IPA /ridz/ Syllables 1 · reedz Stress 1st syllable

REEDZ

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Americans pronounce reads as REEDZ (/ridz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He reads the nutrition labels carefully before making a purchase".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "reads".

1 syllable, 4 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.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

d/d/

Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.

z/z/

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

In real conversation

Hear "reads" in the wild.

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

"He reads the nutrition labels carefully before making a purchase."

hee REEDZ dhuh noo·TRIH·shuhn LAY·buhlz KAIR·fuh·lee buh·FOR MAY·kuhng uh PUR·chuhs

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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