How to pronounce stuck in American English

IPA /stʌk/ Syllables 1 · stuhk Stress 1st syllable

STUHK

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Americans pronounce stuck as STUHK (/stʌk/). You'll hear it in sentences like "The truck is stuck on the muddy track" or "They're probably just stuck in traffic" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "stuck".

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.

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.

uh/ʌ/

Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.

k/k/

Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.

In real conversation

Hear "stuck" in the wild.

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

"He got stuck in a traffic jam for over an hour this morning."

hee GAHT STUHK ihn uh TRA·fuhk JAM fer OH·ver uhn OW·er dhihs MOR·nuhng

"The car key was stuck in the crazy lock."

dhuh KAR KEE wuhz STUHK ihn dhuh KRAY·zee LAHK

"The melody has been stuck in my head all day long."

dhuh MEH·luh·dee huhz bihn STUHK ihn mahy HEHD AHL DAY lahng

"The public bus was stuck in the mud on Sunday."

dhuh PUH·bluhk BUHS wuhz STUHK ihn dhuh MUHD ahn SUHN·day

"The truck is stuck on the muddy track."

dhuh TRUHK ihz STUHK ahn dhuh MUH·dee TRAK

"They're probably just stuck in traffic."

dhair PRAH·buh·blee juhst STUHK ihn TRA·fuhk

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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