h/h/
Push a stream of air from your throat through your open mouth. No tongue or lip contact.
How to pronounce whole in American English
HOHL
Start here
Americans pronounce whole as HOHL (/hoʊl/). 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. This is called the Dark L vs Light L, and it's one of the defining features of casual American English. It comes out as HOHL. You'll hear it in sentences like "The whole house was heated by the heater" or "Note the tone of the whole proposal closely" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "whole".
1 syllable, 3 sounds. 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.
l/l/
DarkKeep the tongue tip down and pull the back of the tongue up toward the throat. The 'dark' sound comes from the back.
In real conversation
Hear "whole" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"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
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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
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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