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 store in American English
STOR
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Americans pronounce store as STOR (/stɔr/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The store is north" or "I got it from an online store" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "store".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
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.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "store" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Cloud computing has revolutionized how businesses store information."
KLOWD kuhm·PYOO·tuhng huhz reh·vuh·LOO·shuh·nahyzd HOW BIHZ·nuh·suhz STOR ihn·fer·MAY·shuhn
"I bought a classic vinyl record at the music store."
ahy BAHT uh KLA·suhk VAHY·nuhl REH·kerd uht dhuh MYOO·zuhk STOR
"I got it from an online store."
ahy GAHT iht fruhm uhn AHN·lahyn STOR
"I need to go to the bank, the post office, and the grocery store."
ahy NEED tuh GOH tuh dhuh BANGK dhuh POHST AH·fuhs and dhuh GROH·suh·ree STOR
"I prefer shopping early in the morning when the store is empty."
ahy pruh·FUR SHAH·puhng UR·lee ihn dhuh MOR·nuhng wehn dhuh STOR ihz EHMP·tee
"I ran into your neighbor at the grocery store yesterday."
ahy RAN IHN·too yer NAY·ber uht dhuh GROH·suh·ree STOR YEH·ster·day
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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
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "store"?
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 "store" 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 "STOR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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