Learn how to pronounce the words ROOM & ROAM with this American English Pronunciation Lesson.

Definitions:

ROOM is a division of a building with four walls.

ROAM means to move about aimlessly.

Pronunciation:

ROOM: R-EW-M or /rum/

ROAM: R-long O-M or /roʊm/

Sentence:

The dog will roam around the room all day.

Transcript:

Hey there everyone Jennifer from Tarle speech with your question of the week! Two words today roam to move about aimlessly and room a division of a building with four walls. I think the confusion comes in because of the spelling typically when we see two vowels together
-the first one we pronounce the letter name and make it a long vowel and
-the second one is just silent that is the case here in

But here for this o o we are going to pronounce it as EW. So let’s take a look at all of these sounds and break this down a little bit more.

Okay let’s start with that last sound the m easy breezy put your lips together mmmmm. Air moves out of your nose.

You’re going to start both of these words with the r sound rrrr. Lips are square and tense, tip of the tongue is either pointed down or flipped back, back of the tongue is pulled up high in both situations, and be sure to not touch your teeth with the tip of your tongue. If you do that oftentimes it will sound like a d sound or a trilled r to um a listener.

Next we’re going to move to the EW by puckering your tongue is just going to be flat in your mouth and then again end with the m.

room room room room room

And then for roam. You’re going to open your mouth more for that vowel sound OOOO. Gonna start in that wide oval shape. Tip of the tongue is down, back of the tongue is pulled high up. And then you’re going to move to a pucker. As you pucker your tongue is going to move along for the ride and end up flat and in the middle of your mouth. OOOOO

roam roam roam roam roam

This would also be the pronunciation of the city Rome and that’s how we would say that in English.

So again we have:
room room room
roam roam Rome
room roam
room roam

And now for a sentence:

The dog will roam around the room all day.

Give it a try I know people are going to notice the difference. If you found this helpful, please share this with your friends and if you need more help check out our products and our classes at Tarle Speech.

Thanks so much everyone have an amazing weekend!