🔤 Consonants
English Consonant Sounds
Click any symbol to hear the sound. Each card shows an example word and its phonetic transcription.
Plosives (Stops)
p
pen
/pen/
Voiceless bilabial
b
bat
/bæt/
Voiced bilabial
t
top
/tɒp/
Voiceless alveolar
d
dog
/dɒɡ/
Voiced alveolar
k
cat
/kæt/
Voiceless velar
g
go
/ɡəʊ/
Voiced velar
Fricatives
f
fish
/fɪʃ/
Voiceless labiodental
v
van
/væn/
Voiced labiodental
θ
think
/θɪŋk/
Voiceless dental
ð
this
/ðɪs/
Voiced dental
s
sun
/sʌn/
Voiceless alveolar
z
zoo
/zuː/
Voiced alveolar
ʃ
ship
/ʃɪp/
Voiceless palato-alveolar
ʒ
vision
/ˈvɪʒən/
Voiced palato-alveolar
h
hat
/hæt/
Voiceless glottal
Affricates
tʃ
chair
/tʃeə/
Voiceless palato-alveolar
dʒ
jam
/dʒæm/
Voiced palato-alveolar
Nasals
m
man
/mæn/
Bilabial nasal
n
no
/nəʊ/
Alveolar nasal
ŋ
sing
/sɪŋ/
Velar nasal
Other Consonants
l
light
/laɪt/
Alveolar lateral
r
red
/red/
Alveolar approximant
j
yes
/jes/
Palatal approximant
w
wet
/wet/
Labio-velar approximant
🔊 Vowels
English Vowel Sounds
English has 20 vowel sounds. Click to hear each one.
Short Monophthongs
ɪ
sit
/sɪt/
e
bed
/bed/
æ
cat
/kæt/
ʌ
cup
/kʌp/
ʊ
put
/pʊt/
ɒ
hot
/hɒt/
ə
about
/əˈbaʊt/
Schwa (most common vowel)
Long Monophthongs
iː
see
/siː/
ɑː
car
/kɑː/
ɔː
door
/dɔː/
uː
blue
/bluː/
ɜː
bird
/bɜːd/
Diphthongs
eɪ
day
/deɪ/
aɪ
my
/maɪ/
ɔɪ
boy
/bɔɪ/
aʊ
now
/naʊ/
əʊ
go
/ɡəʊ/
ɪə
here
/hɪə/
eə
hair
/heə/
ʊə
tour
/tʊə/
✏️ Practice
Listening Practice
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💡 Tip: Pay attention to the mouth position and voicing. Listen carefully!
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