How to pronounce sprained in American English

IPA /spreɪnd/ Syllables 1 · spraynd Stress 1st syllable

SPRAYND

Start here

Americans pronounce sprained as SPRAYND (/spreɪnd/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He sprained his ankle last summer".

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "sprained" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.

Ready when you are

Tap the mic to start

Preview your accent profile

Get your accent profile and 5-axes assessment.

Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

Overall assessment

Our AI coach listens to your recording and grades 5 dimensions of pronunciation — then tells you exactly what to fix next.

72% Noticeable accent

Unlock the full report in the app

Sound by sound

Every sound in "sprained".

1 syllable, 6 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.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

n/n/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Air flows through your nose.

d/d/

Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.

In real conversation

Hear "sprained" in the wild.

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

"He sprained his ankle last summer."

hee SPRAYND hihz ANG·kuhl last SUH·mer

Find another

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Search the entire library

Press / anywhere to focus the search box.

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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