Letters of the Alphabet

Cards · 55

A (short)

/æ/ - short open front sound, as in 'cat', 'apple', 'bat'

A (long)

/eɪ/ - diphthong name sound, as in 'cake', 'late', 'rain'

B

/b/ - voiced bilabial stop, as in 'ball', 'bed', 'cab'

C (hard)

/k/ - voiceless velar stop before a, o, u, as in 'cat', 'cup', 'cold'

C (soft)

/s/ - voiceless alveolar fricative before e, i, y, as in 'city', 'cell', 'cycle'

D

/d/ - voiced alveolar stop, as in 'dog', 'door', 'sad'

E (short)

/ɛ/ - short open-mid front sound, as in 'bed', 'egg', 'red'

E (long)

/iː/ - long close front sound, as in 'see', 'tree', 'be'

F

/f/ - voiceless labiodental fricative, as in 'fish', 'fun', 'leaf'

G (hard)

/ɡ/ - voiced velar stop before a, o, u, as in 'go', 'game', 'big'

G (soft)

/dʒ/ - voiced postalveolar affricate often before e, i, y, as in 'gem', 'giant', 'age'

H

/h/ - voiceless glottal fricative, as in 'hat', 'home', 'hot'

I (short)

/ɪ/ - short near-close near-front sound, as in 'sit', 'in', 'pin'

I (long)

/aɪ/ - diphthong name sound, as in 'like', 'time', 'pie'

J

/dʒ/ - voiced postalveolar affricate, as in 'jump', 'juice', 'jam'

K

/k/ - voiceless velar stop, as in 'kite', 'king', 'book'

L

/l/ - voiced alveolar lateral approximant, as in 'lion', 'lake', 'bell'

M

/m/ - voiced bilabial nasal, as in 'man', 'milk', 'room'

N

/n/ - voiced alveolar nasal, as in 'net', 'no', 'sun'

O (short)

/ɒ/ or /ɑː/ - short open back sound, as in 'hot', 'dog', 'pot'

O (long)

/oʊ/ - diphthong name sound, as in 'go', 'home', 'boat'

P

/p/ - voiceless bilabial stop, as in 'pen', 'pig', 'stop'

Q (QU)

/kw/ - voiceless velar stop followed by labiovelar glide, as in 'queen', 'quick', 'quiet'

R

/r/ or /ɹ/ - voiced alveolar/postalveolar approximant, as in 'red', 'run', 'car'

S (voiceless)

/s/ - voiceless alveolar fricative, as in 'sun', 'sit', 'bus'

S (voiced)

/z/ - voiced alveolar fricative, as in 'rose', 'is', 'has'

T

/t/ - voiceless alveolar stop, as in 'top', 'tea', 'cat'

U (short)

/ʌ/ - short open-mid back unrounded sound, as in 'cup', 'sun', 'bus'

U (long)

/juː/ or /uː/ - long sound, as in 'use', 'cube', 'flute'

V

/v/ - voiced labiodental fricative, as in 'van', 'voice', 'love'

W

/w/ - voiced labio-velar approximant, as in 'water', 'wind', 'wet'

X (standard)

/ks/ - voiceless consonant cluster, as in 'box', 'fox', 'six'

X (voiced)

/ɡz/ - voiced consonant cluster, as in 'exam', 'exist', 'exit'

Y (consonant)

/j/ - voiced palatal approximant, as in 'yes', 'yellow', 'yard'

Y (vowel - short)

/ɪ/ - short vowel sound, as in 'gym', 'myth', 'crystal'

Y (vowel - long)

/aɪ/ - long diphthong sound, as in 'my', 'fly', 'sky'

Z

/z/ - voiced alveolar fricative, as in 'zebra', 'zoo', 'buzz'

SH

/ʃ/ - voiceless postalveolar fricative, as in 'ship', 'shoe', 'wish'

CH

/tʃ/ - voiceless postalveolar affricate, as in 'chair', 'chin', 'rich'

TH (unvoiced)

/θ/ - voiceless dental fricative, as in 'think', 'three', 'bath'

TH (voiced)

/ð/ - voiced dental fricative, as in 'this', 'that', 'mother'

WH

/w/ (or /hw/) - voiced labial-velar approximant, as in 'what', 'when', 'white'

PH

/f/ - voiceless labiodental fricative, as in 'phone', 'photo', 'graph'

NG

/ŋ/ - voiced velar nasal, as in 'sing', 'ring', 'song'

CK

/k/ - voiceless velar stop after short vowels, as in 'duck', 'black', 'pick'

EE

/iː/ - long close front unrounded vowel, as in 'see', 'meet', 'feet'

EA

/iː/ - long close front unrounded vowel, as in 'tea', 'read', 'beach'

OO (short)

/ʊ/ - short near-close near-back vowel, as in 'book', 'look', 'foot'

OO (long)

/uː/ - long close back rounded vowel, as in 'moon', 'food', 'cool'

AI / AY

/eɪ/ - diphthong sound, as in 'rain', 'wait', 'day', 'play'

OI / OY

/ɔɪ/ - diphthong sound, as in 'coin', 'boil', 'boy', 'toy'

OU / OW

/aʊ/ - diphthong sound, as in 'out', 'house', 'cow', 'now'

AR

/ɑːr/ - r-controlled broad vowel sound, as in 'car', 'star', 'park'

OR

/ɔːr/ - r-controlled mid-back vowel sound, as in 'for', 'fork', 'born'

ER / IR / UR

/ɜːr/ - r-controlled central vowel sound, as in 'her', 'bird', 'turn'