The 44 Phonemes in English

Despite there being just 26 letters in the English language there are approximately 44
unique sounds, also known as phonemes. The 44 sounds help distinguish one word or
meaning from another. Various letters and letter combinations known as graphemes are
used to represent the sounds.

The 44 English sounds fall into two categories: consonants and vowels. Below is a list
of the 44 phonemes along with their International Phonetic Alphabet symbols and some
examples of their use. Note that there is no such thing as a definitive list of phonemes
because of accents, dialects and the evolution of language itself. Therefore you may
discover lists with more or less than these 44 sounds.

Consonants
IPA
Phoneme Graphemes Examples Voiced?
Symbol

1 b b, bb bug, bubble Yes

2 d d, dd, ed dad, add, milled Yes

3 f f, ff, ph, gh, lf, ft fat, cliff, phone, enough, half, often No

4 g g, gg, gh,gu,gue gun, egg, ghost, guest, prologue Yes

5 h h, wh hop, who No

6 dʒ j, ge, g, dge, di, gg jam, wage, giraffe, edge, soldier, exaggerate Yes

k, c, ch, cc, lk, qu ,q(u),

7 k kit, cat, chris, accent, folk, bouquet, queen, rack, box No
ck, x

8 l l, ll live, well Yes

9 m m, mm, mb, mn, lm man, summer, comb, column, palm Yes

10 n n, nn,kn, gn, pn net, funny, know, gnat, pneumonic Yes

11 p p, pp pin, dippy No

12 r r, rr, wr, rh run, carrot, wrench, rhyme Yes

s, ss, c, sc, ps, st, ce,

13 s sit, less, circle, scene, psycho, listen, pace, course No
se

14 t t, tt, th, ed tip, matter, thomas, ripped No

15 v v, f, ph, ve vine, of, stephen, five Yes

16 w w, wh, u, o wit, why, quick, choir Yes

17 z z, zz, s, ss, x, ze, se zed, buzz, his, scissors, xylophone, craze Yes

18 ʒ s, si, z treasure, division, azure Yes

19 tʃ ch, tch, tu, ti, te chip, watch, future, action, righteous No

sh, ce, s, ci, si, ch, sci, sham, ocean, sure, special, pension, machine,
20 ʃ No
ti conscience, station

21 θ th thongs No

22 ð th leather Yes

23 ŋ ng, n, ngue ring, pink, tongue Yes

24 j y, i, j you, onion, hallelujah Yes

 What is the International Phonetic Alphabet?

How can you pronounce a word you've never read? It can be a bit tricky. How about a
word in a foreign language? Now that must be impossible! Or is it? Imagine a set of
symbols that could tell you how to pronounce any word in any language on the planet?
Well that is exactly what the International Phonetic Alphabet is. Currently, the IPA
consists of 107 sound symbols, 52 diacritics (accents) and 4 prosodic marks
(intonations) encompassing virtually every phoneme used in every language on the
earth. So for any written word, you can identify the associated phoneme symbols, and
with a bit of practice, pronounce the word! Congratulations, you can speak Greek now!

The IPA was created by the International Phonetic Association. Founded in 1886 in
Paris, their original mission was to help school children pronounce words in foreign
languages and to aid in the teaching of reading. Today their mission is to promote the
scientific study of phonetics.

Vowels
IPA
Phoneme Graphemes Examples
Symbol

25 æ a, ai, au cat, plaid, laugh

a, ai, eigh, aigh, ay, er, et, ei, au, bay, maid, weigh, straight, pay, foyer, filet, eight,
26 eɪ
a_e, ea, ey gauge, mate, break, they

end, bread, bury, friend, said, many, leopard, heifer,

27 e e, ea, u, ie, ai, a, eo, ei, ae
aesthetic

be, bee, meat, lady, key, phoenix, grief, ski, deceive,

28 i: e, ee, ea, y, ey, oe, ie, i, ei, eo, ay
people, quay

29 ɪ i, e, o, u, ui, y, ie it, england, women, busy, guild, gym, sieve

spider, sky, night, pie, guy, stye, aisle, island, height,

30 aɪ i, y, igh, ie, uy, ye, ai, is, eigh, i_e
kite

31 ɒ a, ho, au, aw, ough swan, honest, maul, slaw, fought

o, oa, o_e, oe, ow, ough, eau, oo, open, moat, bone, toe, sow, dough, beau, brooch,
32 oʊ
ew sew

33 ʊ o, oo, u,ou wolf, look, bush, would

34 ʌ u, o, oo, ou lug, monkey, blood, double

o, oo, ew, ue, u_e, oe, ough, ui, who, loon, dew, blue, flute, shoe, through, fruit,
35 u:
oew, ou manoeuvre, group

36 ɔɪ oi, oy, uoy join, boy, buoy

37 aʊ ow, ou, ough now, shout, bough

38 ə a, er, i, ar, our, ur about, ladder, pencil, dollar, honour, augur

39 eəʳ air, are, ear, ere, eir, ayer chair, dare, pear, where, their, prayer

40 ɑ: a arm

41 ɜ:ʳ ir, er, ur, ear, or, our, yr bird, term, burn, pearl, word, journey, myrtle

aw, a, or, oor, ore, oar, our, augh, paw, ball, fork, poor, fore, board, four, taught, war,
42 ɔ:
ar, ough, au bought, sauce

43 ɪəʳ ear, eer, ere, ier ear, steer, here, tier

44 ʊəʳ ure, our cure, tourist