Every distinct sound in English, grouped by family. Tap the speaker on a phoneme to hear it pronounced inside its headline word, then tap any of the three demonstrator words below it to hear the same sound in a different context.
The English alphabet
Tap any letter to hear how it is named when spelling words aloud in English.
-
A
- apple
- cat
- sofa
-
B
- bus
- table
- web
-
C
- cup
- face
- music
-
D
- dog
- radio
- bed
-
E
- egg
- pen
- tree
-
F
- fish
- coffee
- leaf
-
G
- girl
- sugar
- dog
-
H
- hat
- behind
- fish
-
I
- ink
- pig
- taxi
-
J
- jam
- major
- banjo
-
K
- key
- lake
- book
-
L
- lamp
- hello
- ball
-
M
- man
- camel
- arm
-
N
- nose
- hand
- pen
-
O
- ox
- dog
- radio
-
P
- pen
- apple
- cup
-
Q
- queen
- equal
- Iraq
-
R
- red
- tiger
- car
-
S
- sun
- desk
- bus
-
T
- top
- water
- cat
-
U
- up
- sun
- menu
-
V
- van
- river
- love
-
W
- web
- power
- cow
-
X
- xenon
- taxi
- fox
-
Y
- yes
- city
- boy
-
Z
- zoo
- pizza
- jazz
Vowels
Short Vowels
-
/ɪ/
Letters: i (sit)
- sit
- big
- milk
-
/ʊ/
Letters: u (good)
- good
- book
- foot
-
/e/
Letters: e (bed)
- bed
- pen
- ten
-
/ə/
Letters: a (sofa)
- sofa
- about
- banana
-
/ʌ/
Letters: u (cup)
- cup
- sun
- bus
-
/æ/
Letters: a (cat)
- cat
- bag
- hand
-
/ɒ/
Letters: o (cot, UK)
- hot
- dog
- box
Long Vowels
-
/iː/
Letters: ee (see)
- see
- green
- teacher
-
/uː/
Letters: oo (food)
- food
- moon
- school
-
/ɜː/
Letters: er (bird, UK)
- bird
- her
- term
-
/ɔː/
Letters: aw (saw, UK)
- saw
- law
- draw
-
/ɑː/
Letters: ar (car, UK)
- car
- park
- start
Diphthongs
-
/aɪ/
Letters: ai (my)
- my
- time
- find
-
/aʊ/
Letters: ow (now)
- now
- house
- brown
-
/ɔɪ/
Letters: oy (boy)
- boy
- toy
- joy
-
/eɪ/
Letters: ay (face)
- day
- play
- rain
-
/əʊ/
Letters: oh (go)
- go
- home
- boat
-
/ɪə/
Letters: ear (near)
- near
- hear
- dear
-
/eə/
Letters: air (hair)
- hair
- chair
- pair
-
/ʊə/
Letters: ure (cure)
- cure
- pure
- tour
Consonants
Plosives
-
/p/
Letters: p (pen)
- pen
- paper
- apple
-
/b/
Letters: b (bat)
- bat
- baby
- table
-
/t/
Letters: t (top)
- top
- time
- water
-
/d/
Letters: d (dog)
- dog
- day
- red
-
/k/
Letters: k (cat)
- cat
- kite
- book
-
/ɡ/
Letters: g (go)
- go
- game
- green
Fricatives
-
/f/
Letters: f (fan)
- fan
- fish
- coffee
-
/v/
Letters: v (van)
- van
- voice
- seven
-
/θ/
Letters: th (thin)
- think
- thank
- thin
-
/ð/
Letters: th (this)
- this
- that
- they
-
/s/
Letters: s (see)
- see
- sun
- rice
-
/z/
Letters: z (zoo)
- zoo
- zero
- music
-
/ʃ/
Letters: sh (she)
- she
- shop
- fish
-
/ʒ/
Letters: zh (measure)
- measure
- vision
- usual
-
/h/
Letters: h (hat)
- hat
- house
- hand
Nasals
-
/m/
Letters: m (man)
- man
- milk
- summer
-
/n/
Letters: n (no)
- no
- name
- sun
-
/ŋ/
Letters: ng (sing)
- sing
- song
- long
Approximants
-
/w/
Letters: w (we)
- we
- win
- water
-
/ɹ/
Letters: r (red)
- red
- rain
- right
-
/j/
Letters: j (yes)
- yes
- yellow
- yoga
-
/l/
Letters: l (let)
- light
- long
- blue
Affricates
-
/tʃ/
Letters: ch (church)
- chair
- cheese
- child
-
/dʒ/
Letters: j (judge)
- job
- jam
- giant
Play SmartWords games
Six word games built around our real vocabulary — free in the browser, no install.
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Word Sling
Match the center word under time pressure and keep the combo alive.
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Word Gate
Fly through the correct gate before the speed ramps up.
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Word Ninja
Slice the goal-language words, avoid the main-language decoy, and chase the announced bonus target.
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Word Zip
Trace a single path across the board, hit each letter anchor in order, and fill every open cell.
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Word Oddity
Pick the word that doesn't belong from a topic-driven set — every tap reveals all four meanings and images so the round becomes a flash-card too.
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Word Memory
Flip and match goal-language words to their main-language meaning before your lives run out.
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