How to pronounce wakes in American English

IPA /weɪks/ Syllables 1 · wayks Stress 1st syllable

WAYKS

Start here

Americans pronounce wakes as WAYKS (/weɪks/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He wakes up early to milk the cows every morning".

Now you try.

Record yourself saying "wakes" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.

Ready when you are

Tap the mic to start

Preview your accent profile

Get your accent profile and 5-axes assessment.

Sounds

75%

Clarity

68%

Stress

78%

Intonation

65%

Fluency

62%

Overall assessment

Our AI coach listens to your recording and grades 5 dimensions of pronunciation — then tells you exactly what to fix next.

72% Noticeable accent

Unlock the full report in the app

Sound by sound

Every sound in "wakes".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

w/w/

Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.

ay/eɪ/

Start with your jaw slightly open and the front of your tongue forward and slightly up. Glide upward, your jaw closes a little more and your tongue arches higher toward the roof of the mouth.

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.

In real conversation

Hear "wakes" in the wild.

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

"He wakes up early to milk the cows every morning."

hee WAYKS UHP UR·lee tuh MIHLK dhuh KOWZ EHV·ree MOR·nuhng

Find another

Looking for a different word or sentence?

Search the entire library

Press / anywhere to focus the search box.

Questions

Questions people ask about this.

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