The /pr/ Sound: English Pronunciation Practice Made Easy

What is the /pr/ Sound?

First, let's look at a few examples of words with the English /pr/ sound:

• pray
• price
• prompt
• impress
• approve
• imprint

According to Baruch College's Tools for Clear Speech, the /pr/ sound is made by doing the following:

"The first sound is /p/, which is made by pursing your lips together and pushing a puff of air from behind your lips as your release them. Just after, you need to make an /r/ sound. This sound is made by curling your tongue upwards without letting it touch the roof of your mouth and vibrating your vocal cords so the air escapes around the sides of your tongue. The starting position for this sound, therefore, is with your lips pressed together and your tongue ready to quickly curl back to produce the /r/ sound. These sounds are made almost simultaneously."

If you need more help articulating the /pr/ sound, check out this video to learn the correct tongue and mouth placement.

Practicing the /pr/ Sound

Everything you need to pronounce the English /pr/ sound correctly is on this page. Just follow the instructions.

What do you have to do?

Practice for 5 minutes a day for 7 days.

That’s it.

Your goal is to pronounce the /pr/ sound clearly and easily by the end of day 7.

Let’s do it!

This guide to the American English /pr/ sound is full of useful information. Click the link below to jump to the part you are looking for:

• Day 1 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 2 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 3 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 4 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 5 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 6 of the /pr/ sound
• Day 7 of the /pr/ sound
• Additional /pr/ sound resources
• PDF download of the /pr/ sound

Day 1: The /pr/ Sound

If you are ready, let’s start with the practice for day one.

It’s pretty simple.

Watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /pr/ sound and similar sounds like /p/ or /cr/.

• pray - pay
• prickle - pickle
• prank - crank
• pry - cry

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• pray - pry - prayer
• praise - prize - prose

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• promote
• proceed
• premium
• prepare

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• I got a premium deal.
• We could not have promoted it any better.

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• Pranks and praises are prolific in school.
• Prop the praying priest on the wall.

Day 2: The /pr/ Sound

Just like day one, except simpler.

Watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /pr/ sound and similar sounds like /p/ or /r/.

• prize - pies
• pram - Pam
• probe - robe
• preach - reach

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• pride - prude - proud
• premium - promote - premier

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• protein
• protect
• profile
• prevent

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• What are you preparing for?
• I am so proud of them.

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• Practice and improve your pronunciation.
• The pram proved to be perfectly proficient.

Day 3: The /pr/ Sound

Today will be the last day you only listen and repeat.

Tomorrow, you will have to start to speak.

But let’s focus on today.

Just like yesterday, watch the video and follow along.

Listen and repeat.

🔊 Click here to listen to the audio version

Minimal Pairs

Your Goal: To feel the difference between the /pr/ sound and similar sounds like /cr/ or /r/.

• prime - crime
• prince - rinse
• price - rice
• pride - ride

Vowel Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also improving your pronunciation of the English vowel sounds.

• protect - protein - pretend
• express - impress - compress

Syllable Stress Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also developing a better understanding of proper syllable stress.

• express
• supreme
• depress
• deprive

Reduced Sounds Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while also working on linking words and phrases together.

• I want to prevent the spread.
• They would have proceeded even with the problems.

Tongue Twister Collection

Your Goal: To practice the /pr/ sound while improving your speaking speed and enunciation.

• Peter Piper’s practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation.

Day 4: The /pr/ Sound

Time to speak.

You will notice that these are the words, phrases, and sentences you repeated on day one.

Today, your job is different.

Open up a Google Doc, enable voice typing and speak.

Watch the video to see how it works.

• pray - pay
• prickle - pickle
• prank - crank
• pry - cry

• pray - pry - prayer
• praise - prize - prose

• promote
• proceed
• premium
• prepare

• I got a premium deal.
• We could not have promoted it any better.

• Pranks and praises are prolific in school.
• Prop the praying priest on the wall.

Day 5: The /pr/ Sound

Let’s revisit the words, phrases, and sentences you practiced on day two.

Just like yesterday, open up a Google Doc, enable voice typing, and get ready to speak.

Let’s do it!

• prize - pies
• pram - Pam
• probe - robe
• preach - reach

• pride - prude - proud
• premium - promote - premier

• protein
• protect
• profile
• prevent

• What are you preparing for?
• I am so proud of them.

• Practice and improve your pronunciation.
• The pram proved to be perfectly proficient.

TIP*** Are there some words that the computer does not understand no matter how many times you say them? No worries, just skip it and move on. No one is perfect.

Day 6: The /pr/ Sound

You are so close to day 7.

Be proud that you have made it this far :)

In today’s lesson, let’s circle back to the words, phrases, and sentences you repeated on day three and practice saying them aloud.

• prime - crime
• prince - rinse
• price - rice
• pride - ride

• protect - protein - pretend
• express - impress - compress

• express
• supreme
• depress
• deprive

• I want to prevent the spread.
• They would have proceeded even with the problems.

• Peter Piper’s practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation.

Day 7: The /pr/ Sound

Congratulations!!!

You have made it to the very last day of this /pr/ sound practice course.

Do you feel like your pronunciation of this sound is improving?

Let’s finish with a simple, but challenging exercise.

Just like you did on days 4, 5, and 6, open up a Google Doc and enable voice typing.

This time, try to get the technology to recognize these five tongue twisters.

• Pranks and praises are prolific in school.
• Prop the praying priest on the wall.
• Practice and improve your pronunciation.
• The pram proved to be perfectly proficient.
• Peter Piper’s practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation.

Now, turn voice typing off and try to say each tongue twister as fast as possible.

Watch the video to learn how to go through this exercise.

Additional Resources: The /pr/ Sound

Words with the /pr/ sound

Minimal Pair Collection

Minimal pair initial /pr/ and /p/

• pray - pay
• prickle - pickle
• prize - pies
• pram - Pam

Minimal pair initial /pr/ and /cr/

• prank - crank
• pry - cry
• prime - crime

Minimal pair initial /pr/ and /r/

• probe - robe
• preach - reach
• prince - rinse
• price - rice
• pride - ride

Vowel Collection

• pray - pry - prayer
• praise - prize - prose
• pride - prude - proud
• premium - promote - premier
• protect - protein - pretend
• express - impress - compress

Syllable Stress Collection

• promote
• proceed
• premium
• prepare
• protein
• protect
• profile
• prevent
• express
• supreme
• depress
• deprive

Reduced Sounds Collection

• I got a premium deal.
• We could not have promoted it any better.
• What are you preparing for?
• I am so proud of them.
• I want to prevent the spread.
• They would have proceeded even with the problems.

Tongue Twister Collection

• Pranks and praises are prolific in school.
• Prop the praying priest on the wall.
• Practice and improve your pronunciation.
• The pram proved to be perfectly proficient.
• Peter Piper’s practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation.

Additional Resources

• Rachel’s English video on / pr/ sound
• How to pronounce /pr/ in English

• Magoosh How to pronounce consonant blends

Additional Activities for All Sounds

Practice Three Words

Answer the following question:

What do you like to do in your free time?

Pick one, two, or three words from the word bank and include them in your response. If it helps, you may write out the example sentences with the word in context first.

Youglish Research

Visit the Youglish website. Pick a word or phrase you would like to practice. Enter it into the Youglish search bar. Find three examples of the word or phrase in context to shadow.

Teacher Time

During your next English speaking practice session with a teacher or conversation partner, have a list of three to five words you would like to use. Give yourself a point every time you use the word correctly in context and it is understood. Aim to score 5 points within the first 10 minutes (so the rest of the time you focus just on communicating).

Voice Typing

Write out three sentences with challenging words or phrases. Use Google Docs or any other software with the ability to turn speech to text. Read these sentences aloud and check to see if your pronunciation is correct.

***There are a ton of possibilities. These are just a few ideas. Use the word bank, tongue twisters, example sentences, and other resources on this page to continue to work on this sound.

If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments below. I read and respond to all of them.