How to pronounce shows in American English
SHOHZ
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Americans pronounce shows as SHOHZ (/ʃoʊz/).
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Why it sounds different
Why "shows" sounds like SHOHZ.
The "" at the end of "" flows directly into the vowel starting "" — the consonant migrates to the next word with no pause between. This is called the Consonant-to-Vowel Linking, a tiny act of laziness that makes the rhythm feel right. It comes out as SHOHZ.
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
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.
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