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 warn in American English
WORN
Start here
Americans pronounce warn as WORN (/wɔrn/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He honked the horn to warn the pedestrian crossing the street" or "Scientists warn that biodiversity loss poses existential threats" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "warn" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "warn".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
or/ɔr/
Start with the 'aw' jaw drop and rounded lips. Pull the tongue back and up while keeping the lips rounded for the R.
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.
In real conversation
Hear "warn" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"He honked the horn to warn the pedestrian crossing the street."
hee HAHNGKT dhuh HORN tuh WORN dhuh puh·DEH·stree·uhn KRAH·suhng dhuh STREET
"Scientists warn that biodiversity loss poses existential threats."
SAHY·uhn·tuhsts WORN dhuht bahy·oh·duh·VUR·suh·tee LAHS POH·zuhz ehg·zuh·STEHN·shuhl THREHTS
Find another
Looking for a different word or sentence?
Search the entire library
/
Press / anywhere to focus the search box.
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 "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How do I pronounce the R in "warn"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "warn" 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 "WORN" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
Stop reading about "warn". Start saying it.
SayWaader is the AI pronunciation coach for American English. Practice 5 minutes a day. Get a 5-axes accent assessment. Sound like you live here.