How to pronounce run in American English

IPA /rʌn/ Syllables 1 · ruhn Stress 1st syllable

RUHN

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Americans pronounce run as RUHN (/rʌn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Run in the sun" or "Run down the road" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "run".

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.

uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

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 "run" in the wild.

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

"He grabbed his bag and started to run."

hee GRABD hihz BAG and STAR·duhd tuh RUHN

"He hit a home run and ran around all the bases."

hee HIHT uh HOHM RUHN and RAN uh·ROWND AHL dhuh BAY·suhz

"He is thinking of going for a long run."

hee ihz THIHNG·kuhng uhv GOH·uhng fer uh lahng RUHN

"Run down the road."

RUHN DOWN dhuh ROHD

"Run in the sun."

RUHN ihn dhuh SUHN

"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 "run" 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 "RUHN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.