How to pronounce sketch in American English

IPA /skɛtʃ/ Syllables 1 · skehch Stress 1st syllable

SKEHCH

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Americans pronounce sketch as SKEHCH (/skɛtʃ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The audience laughed uncontrollably at the comedy sketch".

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Clarity

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Intonation

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "sketch".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

s/s/

Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

eh/ɛ/

Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.

ch/tʃ/

Touch the front of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, then release into a 'sh' position. Flare your lips.

In real conversation

Hear "sketch" in the wild.

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"The audience laughed uncontrollably at the comedy sketch."

dhee AH·dee·uhns LAFT uhn·kuhn·TROH·luh·blee uht dhuh KAH·muh·dee SKEHCH

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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