The 44 Phonemes in English

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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
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IPA
Phoneme Graphemes Examples Voiced?
Symbol
1 b b, bb bug, bubble Yes
2 d d, dd, ed dad, add, milled Yes
f, ff, ph, gh, lf, fat, cliff, phone, enough,

3 f No
ft half, often
g, gg, gun, egg, ghost, guest,

4 g Yes
gh,gu,gue prologue
5 h h, wh hop, who No Study Liberal Arts @ PES

j, ge, g, dge, di, jam, wage, giraffe, edge, PESU offers AI Integrated
6 dʒ Yes
gg soldier, exaggerate
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k, c, ch, cc, lk, kit, cat, chris, accent, folk, Major-Minor option for students
7 k No
qu ,q(u), ck, x bouquet, queen, rack, box pes.edu
8 l l, ll live, well Yes
m, mm, mb, man, summer, comb,

9 m Yes
mn, lm column, palm
n, nn,kn, gn, net, funny, know, gnat,

10 n Yes
pn, mn pneumonic, mnemonic
11 p p, pp pin, dippy No
12 r r, rr, wr, rh run, carrot, wrench, rhyme Yes
sit, less, circle, scene,

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s, ss, c, sc, ps,
13 s psycho, listen, pace, No
st, ce, se PESU offers AI Integrated
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14 t t, tt, th, ed tip, matter, thomas, ripped No Major-Minor option for students
15 v v, f, ph, ve vine, of, stephen, five Yes pes.edu
16 w w, wh, u, o wit, why, quick, choir Yes
z, zz, s, ss, x, zed, buzz, his, scissors,

17 z Yes
ze, se xylophone, craze
What is the International
18 ʒ s, si, z treasure, division, azure Yes Phonetic Alphabet?
chip, watch, future,
19 tʃ ch, tch, tu, te No How can you pronounce a
righteous
word you've never read? It
sham, ocean, sure,
20 ʃ
sh, ce, s, ci, si,
special, pension, machine, No can be a bit tricky. How about
ch, sci, ti
conscience, station a word in a foreign language?
21 θ th thongs No Now that must be
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Phoneme
IPA
Graphemes Examples Voiced? a set of symbols that could
Symbol
tell you how to pronounce any
22 ð th leather Yes
word in any language on the
23 ŋ ng, n, ngue ring, pink, tongue Yes
planet? Well that is exactly
24 j y, i, j you, onion, hallelujah Yes
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, a_e, ea, bay, maid, weigh, straight, pay, foyer, filet, eight, gauge, mate,
26 eɪ
ey break, they
27 ɛ e, ea, u, ie, ai, a, eo, ei, ae end, bread, bury, friend, said, many, leopard, heifer, aesthetic
28 i: e, ee, ea, y, ey, oe, ie, i, ei, eo, ay be, bee, meat, lady, key, phoenix, grief, ski, deceive, people, quay
29 ɪ i, e, o, u, ui, y, ie it, england, women, busy, guild, gym, sieve
30 aɪ i, y, igh, ie, uy, ye, ai, is, eigh, i_e spider, sky, night, pie, guy, stye, aisle, island, height, kite
31 ɒ a, ho, au, aw, ough swan, honest, maul, slaw, fought
32 oʊ o, oa, o_e, oe, ow, ough, eau, oo, ew open, moat, bone, toe, sow, dough, beau, brooch, sew
33 ʊ o, oo, u,ou wolf, look, bush, would
34 ʌ u, o, oo, ou lug, monkey, blood, double
35 u: o, oo, ew, ue, u_e, oe, ough, ui, oew, ou who, loon, dew, blue, flute, shoe, through, fruit, 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, ar,

42 ɔ: paw, ball, fork, poor, fore, board, four, taught, war, bought, sauce
ough, au
43 ɪəʳ ear, eer, ere, ier ear, steer, here, tier
44 ʊəʳ ure, our cure, tourist

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1 b b, bb bug, bubble Yes

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

f, ff, ph, gh, lf, fat, cliff, phone, enough,

g, gg, gun, egg, ghost, guest,

5 h h, wh hop, who No Study Liberal Arts @ PES

8 l l, ll live, well Yes

m, mm, mb, man, summer, comb,

n, nn,kn, gn, net, funny, know, gnat,

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

sit, less, circle, scene,

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

z, zz, s, ss, x, zed, buzz, his, scissors,

The IPA was created by the

25 æ a, ai, au cat, plaid, laugh

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

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

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

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

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

aw, a, or, oor, ore, oar, our, augh, ar,

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

44 ʊəʳ ure, our cure, tourist

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