How to Pronounce REEK and WREAK – American English Pronunciation Lesson

Learn how to pronounce the word absolutely with this American English Pronunciation Lesson.

Definitions:

REEK means a strong unpleasant odor.

WREAK means to cause damage.

Pronunciations:

Reek is pronounced r-long e-k or /rik/ and rhymes with geek, leak, meek, peak, seek.

Wreak is pronounced r-short e-k /rɛk/ and rhymes with heck, neck, peck.

Sentence:

The ship wreak survivor was racked with pain.

The ally will reek from rotting food.

Transcript:

Hello everyone this is Jennifer with Tarle speech with your question of the week.

The question today is how do I say the word reek which is a strong unpleasant odor and wreck which means to cause damage.

So we have two words reek and wreak.

Let’s talk about spelling a little bit so when we have w r together at the beginning of the word we just say an r sound r.

So we see this in the word write and in this word wreck.

Another thing that I think confuses people here is that for the two vowels together in the middle of the word we typically say the first vowel name and make that long like in reek and then the second one is silent. We also see this e a pattern in the words in word like meat and we say a long e this word.

Wreak is an exception and we are going to say a short e here.

So let’s take a look at both of these words and how we pronounce them. So for word number one reek you’re going to start with that r sound er to say this sound I tell my students square tense lips. The reason is, is because some of my students pucker too much or smile too much and then that makes the sound incorrect. So you want square tense lips the tip of your tongue is either pointed down or flipped back the key is is that it is not touching the teeth, so the tongue never touches the teeth for an r sound in english, the back of the tongue is going to be pulled high up. r r r

For reek we’re going to move to that long e sound by smiling that will make your tongue nice and high and flat. Then we are going to end with the k to do this tip of the tongue is down back is pulled way high up and the air puffs out k

r ee k
reek
reek
reek reek reek

Now for the word wreak we’re going to start with that r sound. Then we’re going to move to the short e sound the eh sound. So for the long e e you’re smiling you’re going to open your mouth more and relax your lips so again we’re going from that high e relax your lips eh eh eh

When you relax your lips your mouth opens a bit more, the tip of the tongue is between the top and the bottom teeth, it’s just peeking out there and we’re going to let that air puff out eh eh eh

And then end with that k. Let’s put it all together:
wreak wreak wreak wreak

So we have reek wreak reek wreak
reek reek reek
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