How to pronounce speech in American English

IPA /spitʃ/ Syllables 1 · speech Stress 1st syllable

SPEECH

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Americans pronounce speech as SPEECH (/spitʃ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The politician gave a famous speech" or "Touch the peach and teach me the speech" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "speech".

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.

ee/i/

Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.

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 "speech" in the wild.

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

"Censorship of the press is considered a violation of free speech."

SEHN·ser·shihp uhv dhuh PREHS uhz kuhn·SIH·derd uh vahy·uh·LAY·shuhn uhv FREE SPEECH

"She made a beautiful speech thanking everyone for their support."

shee MAYD uh BYOO·tuh·fuhl SPEECH THANG·kuhng EHV·ree·wuhn fer dhair suh·PORT

"The politician gave a famous speech."

dhuh pah·luh·TIH·shuhn GAYV uh FAY·muhs SPEECH

"Touch the peach and teach me the speech."

TUHCH dhuh PEECH and TEECH mee dhuh SPEECH

"Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the First Amendment."

FREE·duhm uhv SPEECH ihz gair·uhn·TEED bahy dhuh FURST uh·MEHND·muhnt

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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