American English
The English IPA chart, with examples
The International Phonetic Alphabet gives every sound one symbol, so you can read how a word is said instead of guessing from its spelling. These are the 41 sounds of American English. Tono uses the same symbols when it tells you which sound you missed.
Consonants
Most consonant symbols are ordinary letters. The ones worth learning are θ, ð, ʃ, ʒ, ŋ, tʃ, dʒ and j, which is the English y sound.
Stops
The air is stopped completely, then released. Voiceless p, t and k have a small puff of air at the start of a stressed syllable.
Fricatives
The air squeezes through a narrow gap and makes a hiss or a buzz.
- f fan, coffee, laugh Practice
- v van, ever, love Practice English V and W guide
- θ think, nothing, bath Practice English TH guide
- ð this, mother, breathe Practice English TH guide
- s see, city, bus Practice -s endings guide
- z zoo, busy, dogs Practice -s endings guide
- ʃ she, nation, fish Practice English -tion and -sion guide
- ʒ measure, vision, beige Practice English -tion and -sion guide
- h hat, behind, who Practice
Affricates
A stop that opens straight into a fricative, heard as one sound.
Nasals
The mouth is closed somewhere and the air goes out through the nose.
Approximants
The tongue or lips come close but never touch hard enough to make friction.
- l leg, yellow, feel Practice English R and L guide
- ɹ red, sorry, car Often written /r/ in dictionaries. Always pronounced after a vowel in American English. Practice English R and L guide
- j yes, you, few The IPA j is the English y sound. Practice
- w we, away, quick Practice English V and W guide
Vowels
English spelling has five vowel letters but American English has about seventeen vowel sounds. This is where the IPA helps most.
Short vowels
Short and relaxed. The schwa is the most common sound in English.
- ɪ sit, gym, busy Practice Ship or sheep guide
- ɛ bed, said, head Practice
- æ cat, laugh, have Practice
- ʌ cup, love, blood Practice
- ʊ book, put, could Practice
- ə about, banana, the Practice The schwa guide
Long vowels
Longer and tenser. Many American dictionaries leave out the length mark, so iː is often written i.
- iː see, key, piece Practice Ship or sheep guide
- uː food, blue, two Practice
- ɑː father, hot, car Practice
- ɔː thought, law, caught Many Americans say it the same as ɑː, so caught and cot sound alike. Practice
Diphthongs
Two vowels in one syllable: the tongue glides from the first to the second.
R-colored vowels
Vowels said with the tongue already in the R position, typical of American English.
- ɝː bird, her, word Practice English R and L guide
- ɚ butter, doctor, better The unstressed version, as at the end of butter. Practice
Keep going
Step-by-step guides to the hardest sounds Commonly mispronounced English words English minimal pairs