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 workplace in American English
WURK·plays
Start here
Americans pronounce workplace as WURK-plays (/ˈwɜrkˌpleɪs/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Gender equality in the workplace remains an ongoing struggle" or "The workplace achieved an excellent safety record this past year" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "workplace".
2 syllables, 7 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
ur/ɜr/
Flare your lips and push them away from the face. Lift the middle of your tongue 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.
p/p/
Press your lips together to stop the air, then release. No vocal cord vibration.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
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.
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 "workplace" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Gender equality in the workplace remains an ongoing struggle."
JEHN·der uh·KWAH·luh·tee ihn dhuh WURK·plays ruh·MAYNZ uhn AHN·goh·uhng STRUH·guhl
"The safety committee meets monthly to review workplace conditions."
dhuh SAYF·tee kuh·MIH·dee MEETS MUHNTH·lee tuh ruh·VYOO WURK·plays kuhn·DIH·shuhnz
"The workplace achieved an excellent safety record this past year."
dhuh WURK·plays uh·CHEEVD uhn EHK·suh·luhnt SAYF·tee REH·kerd dhihs PAST YEER
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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
Releasing the final consonant with a puff of air.
In "workplace", the "p" is not released — the articulators get into position but hold without the burst of air. Air stops but there's no release burst — the articulators hold position.
workplace→WURK·PLAYS
02
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch WURK — keep everything else short and quick.
wurk·PLAYS→WURK·PLAYS
03
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 is "workplace" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "WURK" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "WURK-plays" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
How do I pronounce the R in "workplace"?
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 "workplace" 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 "WURK-plays" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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