How to pronounce son in American English

IPA /sʌn/ Syllables 1 · suhn Stress 1st syllable
SUHN
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Americans pronounce son as SUHN (/sʌn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He pointed out the constellations in the night sky to his son".

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "son".

1 syllable, 3 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.

Mouth position for /s/ as in SUN
uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

Mouth position for /n/ as in NET
In real conversation

Hear "son" in the wild.

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"He pointed out the constellations in the night sky to his son."
hee POYN·tuhd OWT dhuh kahn·stuh·LAY·shuhnz ihn dhuh NAHYT SKAHY tuh hihz SUHN
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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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

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