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Interactive IPA Chart44 phonemes
Every Sound in the English Language
English has 44 phonemes — the building blocks of every word you hear, speak, and read. Hover any card to hear the sound. The highlighted letters show exactly which part of the word produces that phoneme.
Short vowelsLong vowelsDiphthongsVoiced consonantsUnvoiced consonants
Speaking Tip
Examiners assess phonemic accuracy in Speaking. Mastering these 44 sounds can push your pronunciation score from Band 6 to Band 8.
Practice Speaking Tests →Short Vowels
7 short vowel sounds — the backbone of everyday English speech.
/ɪ/
bit
- bit
- ship
- kit
/e/
bed
- bed
- ten
- pen
/æ/
cat
- cat
- man
- band
/ɒ/
hot
- hot
- dog
- top
/ʌ/
cup
- cup
- fun
- bus
/ʊ/
book
- book
- foot
- put
/ə/
about
- about
- sofa
- comma
Long Vowels
5 long vowel sounds — held slightly longer, often linked to spelling patterns.
/iː/
see
- see
- feet
- read
/ɑː/
car
- car
- farm
- bath
/ɔː/
law
- law
- door
- more
/uː/
food
- food
- blue
- true
/ɜː/
bird
- bird
- word
- burn
Diphthongs
8 gliding sounds — two vowels blending smoothly into one.
/eɪ/
day
- day
- cake
- they
/aɪ/
my
- my
- time
- sky
/ɔɪ/
boy
- boy
- coin
- noise
/aʊ/
now
- now
- out
- town
/əʊ/
go
- go
- home
- coat
/ɪə/
ear
- ear
- here
- idea
/eə/
air
- air
- care
- there
/ʊə/
tour
- tour
- pure
- cure
Voiced Consonants
Your vocal cords vibrate to produce these 14 consonant sounds.
/b/
bed
- bed
- cab
- table
/d/
dog
- dog
- red
- middle
/g/
gun
- gun
- bag
- eager
/v/
van
- van
- love
- ever
/ð/
this
- this
- the
- other
/z/
zoo
- zoo
- rose
- jazz
/ʒ/
measure
- measure
- vision
- genre
/dʒ/
jump
- jump
- edge
- bridge
/m/
man
- man
- ham
- summer
/n/
now
- now
- sun
- inner
/ŋ/
ring
- ring
- song
- think
/l/
leg
- leg
- ball
- play
/r/
red
- red
- car
- write
/j/
yes
- yes
- you
- yell
/w/
wet
- wet
- swim
- wave
Unvoiced Consonants
Air only — no vocal cord vibration for these 9 sharp consonant sounds.
/p/
pen
- pen
- map
- copy
/t/
ten
- ten
- hat
- butter
/k/
cat
- cat
- book
- clock
/f/
fan
- fan
- leaf
- phone
/θ/
think
- think
- bath
- tooth
/s/
sun
- sun
- this
- city
/ʃ/
shoe
- shoe
- cash
- nation
/tʃ/
chair
- chair
- teach
- watch
/h/
hot
- hot
- who
- ahead