Articulation of Phonemes
Articulation of Phonemes
If you want to be sure you are pronouncing the phonics sounds correctly with your child, this page is for you!
Watch the videos at the top of the page to discover:
- why saying the sounds correctly is so important.
- if you are saying the sounds correctly.
- some tips on how to articulate the sounds correctly.
- the pairs of letters which children can confuse.
If there are particular graphemes (letter/groups of letters) you are unsure how to say, click on the red button next to that grapheme below to hear the sound it represents. NB: There will be regional variations in pronounciation.
This is the quickest and easiest way to discover which sounds you are/are not pronouncing correctly, so you don’t unknowingly make it more difficult for your child to read & spell words.
Simply book a 15 minute 1:1 live online workshop with Lesley to find out.
During the session, Lesley will identify any sounds that you need to practise saying correctly (either as stand alone sounds or within words) and provide support with this.
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) |
