How to pronounce ten in American English

IPA /tɛn/ Syllables 1 · tehn Stress 1st syllable

TEHN

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Americans pronounce ten as TEHN (/tɛn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "Ten men helped" or "He has an exam at ten thirty" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "ten".

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.

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.

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.

In real conversation

Hear "ten" in the wild.

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

"As far as I know, the meeting is still scheduled for ten."

uhz FAR uhz ahy NOH dhuh MEE·duhng ihz STIHL SKEH·joold fer TEHN

"He has an exam at ten thirty."

hee huhz uhn uhg·ZAM uht TEHN THUR·dee

"He wears jersey number ten and plays in the midfield."

hee WAIRZ JUR·zee NUHM·ber TEHN and PLAYZ ihn dhuh MIHD·feeld

"It's about a ten-minute walk from the station."

ihts uh·BOWT uh TEHN MIH·nuht WAHK fruhm dhuh STAY·shuhn

"She broke a sweat after only ten minutes on the treadmill."

shee BROHK uh SWEHT AF·ter OHN·lee TEHN MIH·nuhts ahn dhuh TREHD·mihl

"Ten men helped."

TEHN MEHN HEHLPT

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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