How to pronounce text in American English

IPA /tɛkst/ Syllables 1 · tehkst Stress 1st syllable

TEHKST

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Americans pronounce text as TEHKST (/tɛkst/). You'll hear it in sentences like "I'll text you the information" or "Did you get the text message I sent?" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "text".

1 syllable, 5 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.

k/k/

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

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.

In real conversation

Hear "text" in the wild.

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

"Did you get the text message I sent?"

dihd yoo GEHT dhuh TEHKST MEH·suhj ahy SEHNT

"He analyzed the symbolism in the text for his literature class."

hee A·nuh·lahyzd dhuh SIHM·buh·lih·zuhm ihn dhuh TEHKST fer hihz LIH·duh·ruh·chur KLAS

"I prefer visual learning materials over purely text-based resources."

ahy pruh·FUR VIH·zhoo·uhl LUR·nuhng muh·TEER·ee·uhlz OH·ver PYUUR·lee TEHKST BAYST REE·sor·suhz

"I'll text you the information."

ahyl TEHKST yoo dhee ihn·fer·MAY·shuhn

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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