Pronunciation of "lever"

Solution 1:

US speakers tend to say the first 'e' of 'lever' as in bet, bed, met, etc, while speakers in the British English zone say that same syllable as the 'ea' in leave, meat, heat, etc. To Brits it sounds as if Americans are saying 'levver'.

"since the same person can shift between the pronunciations".

This is very unusual. Native speakers tend to be consistent in pronouncing this word.

'Lever' US & British pronunciation examples