v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
How to pronounce vocabulary in American English
voh·KA·byuh·leh·ree
Start here
Americans pronounce vocabulary as voh-KA-byuh-leh-ree (/voʊˈkæbjəˌlɛri/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "He uses flashcards to memorize new vocabulary words every day" or "She created flashcards to help memorize vocabulary for the exam" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "vocabulary".
5 syllables, 11 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
oh/oʊ/
Start with your mouth slightly open, then close your jaw slightly as your lips round. Shift your tongue back slightly, then stretch the back up.
k/k/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate (velum). Stop the air, then release.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
b/b/
Press your lips together, add vocal cord vibration, then release.
y/j/
Lift the middle of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth, but stop just short of touching. /j/ is an approximant, not a stop. The tongue tip stays down, lightly resting near the back of your bottom front teeth. Voice runs through the whole gesture, and the tongue glides smoothly down into the next vowel. The lips stay neutral or pre-shape for the upcoming vowel (rounding early for OO in <em>youth</em>, for example).
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
l/l/
SyllabicThe schwa before L disappears — L becomes the vowel of the syllable. Go straight from the previous consonant to a Dark L.
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.
r/r/
Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.
ee/i/
Pull the corners of your lips back slightly. Arch the middle-front of your tongue high toward the roof of the mouth.
In real conversation
Hear "vocabulary" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He uses flashcards to memorize new vocabulary words every day."
hee YOO·zuhz FLASH·kardz tuh MEH·muh·rahyz noo voh·KA·byuh·leh·ree WURDZ EHV·ree DAY
"She created flashcards to help memorize vocabulary for the exam."
shee kree·AY·duhd FLASH·kardz tuh HEHLP MEH·muh·rahyz voh·KA·byuh·leh·ree fer dhee uhg·ZAM
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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
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch KA — keep everything else short and quick.
VOH·ka·BYUH·LEH·REE→voh·KA·byuh·LEH·ree
02
Pronouncing the unstressed syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the second syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
voh·KA·BYUH·leh·ree→voh·KA·byuh·LEH·ree
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "vocabulary" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "KA" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "voh-KA-byuh-leh-ree" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the third syllable in "vocabulary" 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 "voh-KA-byuh-leh-ree" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
Is the American pronunciation of "vocabulary" 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 "voh-KA-byuh-leh-ree" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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