How to pronounce reef in American English

IPA /rif/ Syllables 1 · reef Stress 1st syllable

REEF

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Americans pronounce reef as REEF (/rif/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The coral reef is a diverse ecosystem teeming with life" or "The coral reef is teeming with colorful fish and sea life" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "reef".

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.

ee/i/

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

f/f/

Lift your bottom lip to touch the very bottom of your top front teeth. Blow air through this contact point without voicing.

In real conversation

Hear "reef" in the wild.

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"The coral reef is a diverse ecosystem teeming with life."

dhuh KOR·uhl REEF ihz uh duh·VURS EE·koh·sihs·tuhm TEE·muhng wihdh LAHYF

"The coral reef is teeming with colorful fish and sea life."

dhuh KOR·uhl REEF ihz TEE·muhng wihth KUH·ler·fuhl FIHSH and SEE LAHYF

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Questions

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