How to pronounce shoes in American English

IPA /ʃuz/ Syllables 1 · shooz Stress 1st syllable

SHOOZ

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Americans pronounce shoes as SHOOZ (/ʃuz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "What size are those shoes?" or "Where is the pair of shoes?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "shoes".

1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

sh/ʃ/

Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.

oo/u/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Let your tongue rest in the middle of your mouth, slightly raised.

z/z/

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

In real conversation

Hear "shoes" in the wild.

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

"He laced up his running shoes and headed out not door."

hee LAYST UHP hihz RUH·nuhng SHOOZ and HEH·duhd OWT NAHT DOR

"He threw his new shoes straight through the hoop."

hee THROO hihz NOO SHOOZ STRAYT throo dhuh HOOP

"Her new shoes were too loose to use."

her noo SHOOZ wer TOO LOOS tuh YOOZ

"I need to buy a new pair of running shoes."

ahy NEED tuh BAHY uh noo PAIR uhv RUH·nuhng SHOOZ

"I need to take off my shoes at the door."

ahy NEED tuh TAYK AHF mahy SHOOZ uht dhuh DOR

"What size are those shoes?"

wuht SAHYZ er dhohz SHOOZ

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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