Producing /ʊ/

How to produce /ʊ/

Before anything else, get the articulation right. The right mouth position makes the sound effortless.

/ʊ/
near-close near-back
Lips: rounded
Tongue: high-back
Voicing: voiced
💡 Slight lip rounding, tongue high-back but relaxed.

Key production cues:

Slight lip rounding, tongue high-back but relaxed.

Practice the sound in isolation

Before trying words, practice the sound on its own. Record yourself. Does it match?

1. Say /ʊ/ in isolation — hold it for 2 seconds.
2. Say /ʊ/ quickly, 5 times in a row: /ʊ-ʊ-ʊ-ʊ-ʊ/.
3. Compare your recording to a native reference.

Try a few isolated words

These words all contain /ʊ/ in different positions — beginning, middle, and end:

• Beginning: put, push, book
• Middle: look, foot, good
• End / in clusters: cook, wolf, would

/ʊ/near-close near-backArticulator diagram · regional variants · drill ↗