How to pronounce shows in American English

IPA /ʃoʊz/ Syllables 1 · shohz Stress 1st syllable

SHOHZ

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Americans pronounce shows as SHOHZ (/ʃoʊz/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I learned a lot of slang and idioms from watching television shows" or "The data clearly shows a significant improvement over the previous quarter" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "shows".

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.

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.

z/z/

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

In real conversation

Hear "shows" in the wild.

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

"I learned a lot of slang and idioms from watching television shows."

ahy LURND uh LAHT uhv SLANG and IH·dee·uhmz fruhm WAH·chuhng TEH·luh·vih·zhuhn SHOHZ

"The data clearly shows a significant improvement over the previous quarter."

dhuh DAY·duh KLEER·lee SHOHZ uh suhg·NIH·fuh·kuhnt uhm·PROOV·muhnt OH·ver dhuh PREE·vee·uhs KWOR·ter

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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