How to pronounce tells in American English

IPA /tɛlz/ Syllables 1 · tehlz Stress 1st syllable

TEHLZ

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Americans pronounce tells as TEHLZ (/tɛlz/). It's 4 sounds in 1 syllable. Every consonant in the cluster gets its turn — no shortcuts in casual American speech.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "tells".

1 syllable, 4 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.

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.

l/l/

Dark

Keep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.

z/z/

Same position as S, but add vocal cord vibration. Feel the buzz.

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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