w/w/
Round your lips into a tight circle. Lift the back of your tongue toward the soft palate and add voice.
How to pronounce wants in American English
WAHNTS
Start here
Americans pronounce wants as WAHNTS (/wɑnts/). In "wants", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. This is called the Silent T in Clusters, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as WAHNTS. You'll hear it in sentences like "He wants to get a new computer" or "He wants to order pizza for dinner" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "wants".
1 syllable, 5 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ah/ɑ/
Relax your lips and drop your jaw significantly. The tongue tip lightly touches behind the bottom front teeth and the back part of the tongue presses down a little to create more dark space in the back of the mouth.
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.
t/t/
DroppedThe T is skipped entirely. Your tongue doesn't make contact at the T position.
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 "wants" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He wants to get a new computer."
hee WAHNTS tuh GEHT uh noo kuhm·PYOO·der
"He wants to learn how to play the guitar."
hee WAHNTS tuh LURN HOW tuh PLAY dhuh guh·TAR
"He wants to order pizza for dinner."
hee WAHNTS tuh OR·der PEET·suh fer DIH·ner
"She wants to join the police academy and become an officer."
shee WAHNTS tuh JOYN dhuh puh·LEES uh·KA·duh·mee and buh·KUHM uhn AH·fuh·ser
"My boss wants the project completed today."
mahy BAHS WAHNTS dhuh PRAH·jehkt kuhm·PLEE·tuhd tuh·DAY
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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
Pronouncing the T in a consonant cluster.
In "wants", the "t" is squeezed between other consonants and drops out — the surrounding consonants flow together without it — most natural in flowing, casual speech; in careful or formal speech, the T may be lightly present. /t/ is dropped entirely — the surrounding consonants flow together without the T.
wants→WAHNTS
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "wants" 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 "WAHNTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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