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Articulation of Phonemes
If you are unsure how to say the sounds, this page is for you! Click on the red button next to a grapheme to hear the sound it represents. NB: There will be regional variations in pronounciation.
Single Letters of the Alphabet
| a | b | c | d | e |
| f | g | h | i | j |
| k | l | m | n | o |
| p | r | s | t | u |
| v | w | x | y | z |
Other Sounds Which Are Represented By Just One Grapheme
| qu | sh | ng |
Graphemes Which Represent More Than One Sound
Click on a grapheme to hear the different sounds it can represent. The number in brackets indicates the number of common sounds that each grapheme represents. Underneath each grapheme are examples of words containing the different sounds.
| th (2) (thin, that) |
a (5) (and, acorn, glass, was, wall) |
e (2) (egg, he) |
i (2) (insect, kind) |
o (3) (top, most, month) |
| u (3) (us, uniform, put) |
ow (2) (cow, low) |
ie (2) (tie, field) |
ea (2) (sea, bread) |
er (2) (her, longer) |
| y (4) (yes, by, plenty, gym) |
ch (2) (chin, school) |
c (2) (cat, city) |
g (2) (get, germ) |
ey (2) (key, they) |
Different Graphemes Which Represent The Same Sound
The graphemes in each line show some of the common ways of representing the same sound. Click on a line to hear the sound all those graphemes can make. Underneath each line of graphemes are examples of words they occur in.
| s, ss, ce, se (eg yes, hiss, fence, horse) |
m, mb (eg him, lamb) |
c, k, ck (eg cat, kit, duck) |
| r, wr (eg red, write) |
f, ff, ph (eg fin, huff, phone) |
ay, a-e, ai, a, ey (eg day, name, rain, angel, they) |
| ea, e-e, ie, y, ey, ee, e (eg sea, these, field, plenty, key, see, be) |
ie, y, i-e, igh, i (eg lie, by, like, night, kind) |
oa, ow, oe, o-e, o (eg coat, grow, toe, smoke, go) |
| ue, u-e, ew, oo (eg blue, flute, blew, food) |
ue, u-e, ew, u (eg due, tube, new, unit) |
oo, oul, u (eg wood, could, put) |
| oy, oi (eg boy, coin) |
ar, a, al (eg car, fast, calf) |
or, aw, au, a, our, al, ore, ar (eg for, saw, Paul, all, your, walk, more, warm) |
| ur, er, ir, ear, or (eg hurt, her, girl, learn, work) |
ow, ou (eg cow, loud) |
ear, ere, eer (eg ear, here, beer) |
| air, ere, ear, are (eg air, there, bear, bare) |
ch, tch (eg chin, stitch) |
j, dge, ge, g (eg jeans, badge, large, germ) |
| w, wh (eg wig, when) |
z, zz, ze, se (eg zip, whizz, freeze, please) |
n, kn, gn (eg net, knee, gnat) |
| u, o (eg hut, month) |
v, ve (eg vet, have) |
Endings:
Below is a list of common endings.NB: These are not graphemes, as they represent more than one sound.
| cial (eg special) |
tion (eg station) |
ssion (eg session) |
ture (eg picture) |
sure (eg pleasure) |
| sion (eg vision) |
sual (eg usual) |
About Lesley
I am a literacy consultant (specialising in the teaching of phonics and guided reading). I have been a class teacher for over 25 years (only leaving the classroom at the beginning of 2020) and was also the phonics lecturer on the PGCE course at Brunel University for several years. These roles have combined to give me a wonderful insight into what does and doesn’t work in developing children’s phonic knowledge and skills, as well as the support and resources practitioners, student teachers and parents are looking for.
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