How to Pronounce Work vs. Walk American English

Today I’m going to go over two words that
often trip people up: work and walk. Let’s

take a look at the IPA transcriptions. First,
notice that the word walk, even though it

is spelled with an L, had no L sound in it.
The word ‘work’ is written with four different

IPA symbols. The ‘ur’ as in ‘her’ vowel is
always followed by the R consonant sound [], and

really they are the vowel and consonant concept
of the same sound, rrr. So though it’s written

with four different symbols, it’s really just
three sounds: ww, rr, kk. And walk, ww, aw,

kk. So the difference in these words is the
middle sound, rrr, and aw. For the rr sound,

the tongue pulls up and back some. And the
middle raises and stretches wide, pressing

against the insides of the top teeth. Rr,
rr. The front of the tongue then just hangs

forward, comes down, but it’s still up and
back enough so that the tip of the tongue

isn’t touching anything. Rr, rr. Also, notice
the lip position. The corners come in and

the lips pucker a little bit. Rr. For the
aw sound, the jaw drops a little bit more.

And the tongue is sort of raised slightly
all over. Not more in one place than in another.

Aw. The tip of the tongue is forward. It can
either be lightly touching behind the bottom

teeth, or just behind it. Aw. Notice the cheeks
come in just a little bit on this vowel sound.

Aw. And the lips round a little bit. Ww, rr,
kk, ww, aw, kk. Now, the first sound in these

words in the W sound. And notice that the
lips do need to be in a tight circle for that.

And you make a sound with your vocal cords
before opening into the vowel. The final sound

is the K consonant sound, kk, where the tongue
will stretch up in the back, kk, touch the

soft palate back there, let a little bit of
air build up, and then pull away. And in that

pull away, the sound is released. Kk. The
two middle sounds really are pretty different.

Let’s alternate them. Rr, aw, rr, aw, repeat
with me. Rr, aw, rr, aw. The rr sound feels

further up in the face for me, rr, rr, right
here. Aw, the jaw is dropped a little bit

more, the sound feels more in the middle of
the face. Aw, rr. And now let’s put all the

sounds together to make the words. Ww, rr,
kk, ww, rr, kk, ww, rr, kk, ww, rr, kk, work.

Ww, aw, kk, ww, aw, kk, ww, aw, kk, ww, aw,
kk, walk. Work, walk. That’s it, and thanks

so much for using Rachel’s English.