How to pronounce stretch in American English

IPA /strɛtʃ/ Syllables 1 · strehch Stress 1st syllable

STREHCH

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Americans pronounce stretch as STREHCH (/strɛtʃ/). You'll hear it in sentences like "My back is getting better after the stretch" or "The intermission gave us a chance to stretch our legs" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "stretch".

1 syllable, 5 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.

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.

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.

eh/ɛ/

Drop your jaw moderately. Touch the tongue tip behind the bottom front teeth and lift the mid-front part slightly toward the roof.

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 "stretch" in the wild.

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

"My back is getting better after the stretch."

mahy BAK ihz GEH·duhng BEH·der AF·ter dhuh STREHCH

"The intermission gave us a chance to stretch our legs."

dhee ihn·ter·MIH·shuhn GAYV uhs uh CHANS tuh STREHCH ar LEHGZ

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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