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 sportsmanship in American English
SPORTS·muhn·shihp
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Americans pronounce sportsmanship as SPORTS-muhn-shihp (/ˈspɔrtsmənˌʃɪp/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "They lost the game but showed great sportsmanship".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "sportsmanship".
3 syllables, 11 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then 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.
or/ɔr/
Start with the 'aw' jaw drop and rounded lips. Pull the tongue back and up while keeping the lips rounded for the R.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
s/s/
Place your tongue tip near the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth. Push air through the narrow gap. No voicing.
m/m/
Press your lips together. Air flows through your nose. Vocal cords vibrate.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
n/n/
SyllabicThe schwa before N disappears — N becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to N.
sh/ʃ/
Flare your lips and lift the mid-front tongue close to the roof of your mouth. Blow air through without voicing.
ih/ɪ/
Drop your jaw slightly with relaxed lips. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and arch the top-front toward the roof.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
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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 "sportsmanship", the "p" 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.
sportsmanship→SPORTS·muhn·SHIHP
02
Inserting a vowel before the syllabic consonant.
In "sportsmanship", the short unstressed vowel before "n" disappears — the schwa is absorbed and the "n" becomes the syllable nucleus on its own. Schwa is absorbed — consonant becomes the syllable nucleus.
sportsmanship→SPORTS·muhn·SHIHP
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch SPORTS — keep everything else short and quick.
sports·MUHN·SHIHP→SPORTS·muhn·SHIHP
04
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
SPORTS·MUHN·shihp→SPORTS·muhn·SHIHP
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "sportsmanship" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "SPORTS" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "SPORTS-muhn-shihp" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the second syllable in "sportsmanship" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "SPORTS-muhn-shihp" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "sportsmanship"?
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 "sportsmanship" 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 "SPORTS-muhn-shihp" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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