How to pronounce spare in American English
SPAIR
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Americans pronounce spare as SPAIR (/spɛr/). The R is one continuous sound with the vowel — the tongue curls back rather than rolling.
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In real conversation
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"He builds detailed model airplanes in his spare time."
hee BIHLDZ DEE·tayld MAH·duhl AIR·playnz ihn hihz SPAIR TAHYM
"She transformed the spare room into a functional home office."
shee trans·FORMD dhuh SPAIR ROOM IHN·too uh FUHNGK·shuh·nuhl HOHM AH·fuhs
"Take care to share the spare chair."
TAYK KAIR tuh SHAIR dhuh SPAIR CHAIR
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "spare"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "spare" 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 "SPAIR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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