sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
How to pronounce showcases in American English
SHOH·kay·suhz
Start here
Americans pronounce showcases as SHOH-kay-suhz (/ˈʃoʊˌkeɪsəz/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The exhibit showcases the evolution of modern art styles" or "The film festival showcases works from emerging filmmakers around the world" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "showcases".
3 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
ay/eɪ/
Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
z/z/
Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.
In real conversation
Hear "showcases" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"The exhibit showcases the evolution of modern art styles."
dhee ihg·ZIH·buht SHOH·kay·suhz dhee eh·vuh·LOO·shuhn uhv MAH·dern ART STAHYLZ
"The film festival showcases works from emerging filmmakers around the world."
dhuh FIHLM FEH·stuh·vuhl SHOH·kay·suhz WURKS fruhm uh·MUR·juhng FIHLM·may·kerz uh·ROWND dhuh WURLD
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch SHOH — keep everything else short and quick.
shoh·KAY·SUHZ→SHOH·KAY·suhz
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
SHOH·kay·SUHZ→SHOH·KAY·suhz
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "showcases" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SHOH" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SHOH-kay-suhz" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "showcases" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "SHOH-kay-suhz" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "showcases" 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 "SHOH-kay-suhz" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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