How to pronounce space in American English

IPA /speɪs/ Syllables 1 · spays Stress 1st syllable

SPAYS

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Americans pronounce space as SPAYS (/speɪs/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I need to find a parking space near here" or "He read a book about the history of space travel" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "space".

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.

p/p/

Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

s/s/

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

In real conversation

Hear "space" in the wild.

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

"Astronauts float in zero gravity aboard the space station."

A·struh·nahts FLOHT ihn ZEE·roh GRA·vuh·dee uh·BORD dhuh SPAYS STAY·shuhn

"He built custom cabinets for the kitchen to maximize storage space."

hee BIHLT KUH·stuhm KA·buh·nuhts fer dhuh KIH·chuhn tuh MAK·suh·mahyz STOR·uhj SPAYS

"I donated my old books to a charity shop to make space."

ahy DOH·nay·tuhd mahy OHLD BUUKS tuh uh CHEH·ruh·tee SHAHP tuh MAYK SPAYS

"I need to find a parking space near here."

ahy NEED tuh FAHYND uh PAR·kuhng SPAYS NEER HEER

"The theory of relativity changed our understanding of time and space."

dhuh THEE·uh·ree uhv reh·luh·TIH·vuh·tee CHAYNJD owr uhn·der·STAN·duhng uhv TAHYM and SPAYS

"He read a book about the history of space travel."

hee REHD uh BUUK uh·BOWT dhuh HIH·stuh·ree uhv SPAYS TRA·vuhl

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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