uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
How to pronounce upheld in American English
uhp·HEHLD
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Americans pronounce upheld as uhp-HEHLD (/əpˈhɛld/). The L in "upheld" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, a small move that separates 'classroom' from 'native'. It comes out as uhp·HEHLD. Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "The court upheld the right to peaceful assembly and protest".
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "upheld".
2 syllables, 6 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
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/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
d/d/
Touch the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you release.
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Treating every L the same.
The L in "upheld" is a dark L — the back of the tongue rises toward the soft palate, adding a small "uh" quality before the L. Dark L adds a small schwa-like "uh" before the L. The back of the tongue lifts toward the soft palate.
upheld→uhp·HEHLD
02
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "upheld", the "d" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
upheld→uhp·HEHLD
03
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch HEHLD — keep everything else short and quick.
UHP·hehld→uhp·HEHLD
04
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
UHP·HEHLD→uhp·HEHLD
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "upheld" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "HEHLD" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "uhp-HEHLD" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "upheld" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "uhp-HEHLD" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "upheld" 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 "uhp-HEHLD" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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