How to pronounce spoil in American English

IPA /spɔɪl/ Syllables 1 · spoyl

spoyl

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Americans pronounce spoil as spoyl (/spɔɪl/). It's 4 sounds in 1 syllable. The vowel glides through two positions, not one fixed shape — keep both halves audible.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "spoil".

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.

oy/ɔɪ/

Start with rounded lips and tongue shifted back. Glide to relaxed lips with the tongue arching forward and up.

l/l/

Dark

Keep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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