10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English

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10/24/2018 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 What is the
Phoneme Graphemes Examples Voiced?
Symbol International Phonetic
1 b b, bb bug, bubble Yes Alphabet?
2 d d, dd, ed dad, add, milled Yes
How can you pronounce a
f, ff, ph, gh, fat, cliff, phone, enough,
3 f No word you've never read? It
lf, ft half, often
can be a bit tricky. How about
g, gg, gun, egg, ghost, guest,
4 g Yes a word in a foreign language?
gh,gu,gue prologue

5 h h, wh hop, who No
Now that must be impossible!
Or is it? Imagine a set of
j, ge, g, jam, wage, giraffe, edge,
6 dʒ Yes
dge, di, gg soldier, exaggerate symbols that could tell you
k, c, ch, cc, how to pronounce any word
kit, cat, chris, accent, folk,
7 k lk, qu ,q(u),
bouquet, queen, rack, box
No in any language on the
ck, x
planet? Well that is exactly
8 l l, ll live, well Yes
what the International
m, mm, mb, man, summer, comb,
9 m Yes Phonetic Alphabet is.
mn, lm column, palm
Currently, the IPA consists of
n, nn,kn, net, funny, know, gnat,
10 n
gn, pn pneumonic
Yes 107 sound symbols, 52
diacritics (accents) and 4
11 p p, pp pin, dippy No
prosodic marks (intonations)
12 r r, rr, wr, rh run, carrot, wrench, rhyme Yes
encompassing virtually every
s, ss, c, sc, sit, less, circle, scene,
13 s ps, st, ce, psycho, listen, pace, No
phoneme used in every
se course language on the earth. So for

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10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English

Phoneme
IPA
Graphemes Examples Voiced? any written word, you can
Symbol
identify the associated
14 t t, tt, th, ed tip, matter, thomas, ripped No
phoneme symbols, and with a
15 v v, f, ph, ve vine, of, stephen, five Yes
bit of practice, pronounce the
16 w w, wh, u, o wit, why, quick, choir Yes
word! Congratulations, you
17 z
z, zz, s, ss, zed, buzz, his, scissors,
Yes can speak Greek now!
x, ze, se xylophone, craze

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

The IPA was created by the
ch, tch, tu, chip, watch, future, action,
19 tʃ No International Phonetic
ti, te righteous
Association. Founded in 1886
sham, ocean, sure,
20 ʃ
sh, ce, s, ci,
special, pension, machine, No in Paris, their original mission
si, ch, sci, ti
conscience, station was to help school children
21 θ th thongs No pronounce words in foreign
22 ð th leather Yes languages and to aid in the

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

teaching of reading. Today
their mission is to promote
24 j y, i, j you, onion, hallelujah Yes
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, bay, maid, weigh, straight, pay, foyer, filet, eight, gauge, mate,
26 eɪ
ea, ey break, they

27 e e, ea, u, ie, ai, a, eo, ei, ae end, bread, bury, friend, said, many, leopard, heifer, aesthetic

be, bee, meat, lady, key, phoenix, grief, ski, deceive, people,
28 i: e, ee, ea, y, ey, oe, ie, i, ei, eo, ay
quay

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

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10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English

IPA
Phoneme Graphemes Examples
Symbol

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

o, oo, ew, ue, u_e, oe, ough, ui, oew, who, loon, dew, blue, flute, shoe, through, fruit, manoeuvre,
35 u:
ou 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, paw, ball, fork, poor, fore, board, four, taught, war, bought,
42 ɔ:
ough, au sauce

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

44 ʊəʳ ure, our cure, tourist

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10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English

Teaching phonemic awareness

Knowing that phonemic awareness is a critical skill and being able to effectively teach it are
two different things. One helpful resource is Essential Strategies for Teaching Phonemic
Awareness from the book 50 Reading Strategies for K-8 Learners from Sage Publications.

Final sounds on the 44 phonemes in English

The difficulty dyslexics have in distinguishing phonemes is most clearly revealed in their
poor spelling. While any phoneme can be a challenge, some are more problematic than
others. The vowels and digraphs generally present more difficulty than the consonants,
although any sound can present difficulty depending on the particular word and phrase in
which it resides.

Good luck and good reading!

New! Comments
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49 Comments Sort by Newest

Add a comment...

Siva Heiman
Is the qu sound as in the word quick another phoneme? It seems
to me there are 45 phonemes, not 44. I think qu is a digraph. What
do you think?
Like · Reply · 19h

Andeh Magdalene Ayodele

Observation! U omitted triphthongs from Ur sound system. The
sounds are 49.
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10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English
Like · Reply · 4w

The Reading Well for Dyslexia

Hi Andeh, as far as I know the five triphthongs in English
do not add new phonemes. Can anyone comment on this?
Like · Reply · 3w

Rachel Dudley
This is a fantastic resource! I am designing an online platform to
help parents understand what phonics is and how they can
support their child in learning phonics, as part of a course in
eLearning design that I am studying. Do you mind if I include a link
to your site for further reading?
Like · Reply · 2 · 4w

The Reading Well for Dyslexia

Please do, thanks! And thanks for the kind words! Much
appreciated.
Like · Reply · 3w · Edited

Danielle Skane
Following!
Like · Reply · 2w

Yun Guo
French Teacher tells me to search up why the is much phonemes
in English and this is the first one that pops up, seriously
Like · Reply · 2 · 5w

Oluwayemisi Edun
Unvoiced not invoice sorry
Like · Reply · 7w

Oluwayemisi Edun
Very helpful but I think there is a mistake in the th sounds as
voiced and invoiced . The first one should be No and the other
Yes. Thank you
Like · Reply · 7w

The Reading Well for Dyslexia

Thanks Oluwayemisi, I have fixed the table.
Like · Reply · 5w

Doris Okonkwo
Thanks so much
Like · Reply · 1 · 8w

Andrew Thomas
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10/24/2018 The 44 Phonemes in English
Andrew Thomas
Are you using US or UK pronunciation?
Like · Reply · 2 · 10w

The Reading Well for Dyslexia

The example words are US pronunciation, but there would
be much overlap. And keep in mind that both US and UK
pronunciations vary tremendously by region.
Like · Reply · 3w

LSreelakshmi S S
Thankzzzz
Like · Reply · 2 · 11w

Mohamoud Dahir
I was straggling long time ago to get this chart,thank you putting it
in front of me
Like · Reply · 1 · 12w

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