How to pronounce whole in American English
HOHL
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Americans pronounce whole as HOHL (/hoʊl/).
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"Note the tone of the whole proposal closely."
NOHT dhuh TOHN uhv dhuh HOHL pruh·POH·zuhl KLOH·slee
"The festival brought the whole community together in celebration."
dhuh FEH·stuh·vuhl BRAHT dhuh HOHL kuh·MYOO·nuh·tee tuh·GEH·dher ihn seh·luh·BRAY·shuhn
"The whole family eats breakfast together every Sunday morning."
dhuh HOHL FAM·lee EETS BREHK·fuhst tuh·GEH·dher EHV·ree SUHN·day MOR·nuhng
"The whole house was heated by the heater."
dhuh HOHL HOWS wuhz HEE·duhd bahy dhuh HEE·der
"The witness swore to tell the truth, the whole truth."
dhuh WIHT·nuhs SWOR tuh TEHL dhuh TROOTH dhuh HOHL TROOTH
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 "whole" 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.
whole→HOHL
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
Is the American pronunciation of "whole" 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 "HOHL" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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