How to pronounce skates in American English

IPA /skeɪts/ Syllables 1 · skayts Stress 1st syllable

SKAYTS

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Americans pronounce skates as SKAYTS (/skeɪts/).

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Sounds

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Clarity

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Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

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"He sharpen his skates before stepping onto the ice."

hee SHAR·puhn hihz SKAYTS buh·FOR STEH·puhng AHN·too dhee AHYS

Questions

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

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