How to pronounce sense in American English

IPA /sɛns/ Syllables 1 · sehns Stress 1st syllable

SEHNS

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Americans pronounce sense as SEHNS (/sɛns/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He felt a great sense of relief" or "The perspective in this drawing gives a sense of depth" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "sense".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

s/s/

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

eh/ɛ/

Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.

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.

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 "sense" in the wild.

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

"He felt a great sense of relief."

hee FEHLT uh GRAYT SEHNS uhv ruh·LEEF

"He felt a sense of accomplishment after finishing the project."

hee FEHLT uh SEHNS uhv uh·KAHM·pluhsh·muhnt AF·ter FIH·nih·shuhng dhuh PRAH·jehkt

"The perspective in this drawing gives a sense of depth."

dhuh per·SPEHK·tuhv ihn dhihs DRAH·uhng GIHVZ uh SEHNS uhv dehpth

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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