s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
How to pronounce speak in American English
SPEEK
Start here
Americans pronounce speak as SPEEK (/spik/). You'll hear it in sentences like "You can speak French, can't you?" or "Is the manager available to speak?" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "speak" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "speak".
1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
In real conversation
Hear "speak" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Could you please speak a little slower?"
kuud yoo PLEEZ SPEEK uh LIH·duhl SLOH·er
"The testimonials from satisfied clients speak for themselves."
dhuh teh·stuh·MOH·nee·uhlz fruhm SA·duhs·fahyd KLAHY·uhnts SPEEK fer dhuhm·SEHLVZ
"You can speak French, can't you?"
yoo kuhn SPEEK FREHNCH KANT yoo
"Is the manager available to speak?"
ihz dhuh MA·nuh·jer uh·VAY·luh·buhl tuh SPEEK
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "speak", the "k" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
speak→SPEEK
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "speak" 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 "SPEEK" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "speak". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.