How to pronounce writes in American English

IPA /raɪts/ Syllables 1 · rahyts Stress 1st syllable

RAHYTS

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Americans pronounce writes as RAHYTS (/raɪts/). You'll hear it in sentences like "He writes book reviews for a local literary magazine" or "He writes his own lyrics and composes the melody on his guitar" — more examples below.

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Sound by sound

Every sound in "writes".

1 syllable, 4 sounds. Explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.

r/r/

Curl or bunch your tongue without letting the tip touch the roof of your mouth. Brace the sides of your tongue against your upper back teeth, and round your lips slightly.

ahy/aɪ/

Start with your jaw open wide and your tongue resting low and flat. Glide the front of your tongue up toward the roof of your mouth as your jaw closes halfway.

t/t/

Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.

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 "writes" in the wild.

Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.

"He writes book reviews for a local literary magazine."

hee RAHYTS BUUK ruh·VYOOZ fer uh LOH·kuhl LIH·duh·rair·ee ma·guh·ZEEN

"He writes his own lyrics and composes the melody on his guitar."

hee RAHYTS hihz ohn LEER·uhks and kuhm·POH·zuhz dhuh MEH·luh·dee ahn hihz guh·TAR

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Questions

Questions people ask about this.

Is the American pronunciation of "writes" 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 "RAHYTS" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.