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Phonemic Chart

Learn all of the vowel and consonant sounds in British English (received pronunciation) with this free, interactive phonemic chart.

Click on any sound or word to hear my pronunciation.

Vowels
Monophthongs
  • i:

    sleep

  • ɪ

    slip

  • ʊ

    good

  • u:

    food

  • e

    ten

  • ə

    better

  • ɜ:

    word

  • ɔ:

    more

  • æ

    tap

  • ʌ

    cup

  • ɑ:

    bar

  • ɒ

    gone

Diphthongs
  • ɪə

    hear

  • game

  • ʊə

    pure

  • ɔɪ

    toy

  • əʊ

    no

  • where

  • mine

  • how

Consonant
  • p

    pen

  • f

    fig

  • t

    tip

  • θ

    thought

  • ʧ

    chip

  • s

    save

  • ʃ

    sure

  • k

    cat

  • b

    bit

  • v

    vase

  • d

    done

  • ð

    those

  • ʤ

    jam

  • z

    zoo

  • ʒ

    vision

  • g

    goal

  • h

    him

  • m

    may

  • n

    not

  • ŋ

    sing

  • r

    reach

  • l

    lie

  • w

    will

  • j

    yet

The 44 sounds of Received Pronunciation. This layout was created by Adrian Underhill and is the best I've seen to this day. Adrian's work can be found here: www.adrianunderhill.com

Improve your pronunciation with this IPA chart with sounds

Are you looking to ace your pronunciation? Would you like to know how to pronounce vowels and consonants properly? Then look no further than our page with an interactive IPA chart below. You’ll be speaking our language fantastically in no time.

What is an IPA chart and how will it help my speech?

The IPA chart, also known as the international phonetic alphabet chart, was formulated by the international phonetic association in the 19th century. It was based on the Latin alphabet.

It is popular with linguists and contains symbols. These symbols represent sounds in spoken English, not other languages. The international phonetic alphabet chart is based on the received pronunciation accent, which is widely regarded as the standard accent in the UK and abroad. This is central to know when studying the language.

In total, the international phonetic alphabet chart has 44 sounds which are known as ‘phonemes’. The ‘phonemes’ are written as symbols and each helps with perfecting speech. As English has a lot more pronunciation exceptions than other languages, it is central to know the chart as a spelling of a word does not always tell us how we hear it

Take the word bought for example (which is the past of the verb buy). Its spelling makes the reader think it should sound like how it is written. In reality, it  sounds more like this: bort.

This should make the English language easier. Let’s take a look deeper below.

IPA chart structure

There are three important areas to consider when looking at this. The chart is divided into vowels and consonants and each of them have their own symbols.

In the vowel section, it is divided into two sections: monophthongs and diphthongs.

These sound like difficult words, but they will be easier to grasp after these definitions.

Monophthongs : a word with a single sound vowel, such as slip or sleep.

Diphthongs: a combination of two vowels, which sounds like one vowel when put together. For example, coin or loud.

The consonant section is not divided into two sections and has 24 symbols, whilst the vowel section has 20 symbols.

Are you ready to take a closer look at monophthongs and diphthongs and hear their characters?

Monophthongs in the IPA chart

Take a look at the monophthongs section.

Of course, there are plenty more words that can be included in each of the sections. Take a look at this table.

i:

Me, see, need, be, leave.

ɜ:

Earn, learn, turn, yearn, churn.

Pit, sit, with, this, wink.

ɔ:

Oar, or, floor, bore, chore.

ʊ

Foot, cook, look, book, hook..

æ

Map, cat. bad, pack, sand.

u:

To, new, you, shoe, cool.

ʌ

Mud, bus, shut, but, up.

e

When, men, said, leg, hen, head.

ɑ:

Palm, calm, cart, smart, start.

ə

Letter, power, flower, tower, shower.

ɒ

Lot, cot, dot, pot, on.

Diphthongs in the IPA chart

Like monophthongs, take a look at the diphthongs section and the table below for more examples.

ɪə

Ear, cheer, year, deer, fear.

əʊ

Go, bow, sew, so, flow.

Say, pray, day, way, stray.

Air, chair, rare, bare, there.

ʊə

Tour, sure, cure.

I, eye, pie, fight, fright.

ɔɪ

Oil, coin, boy, voice, boil.

Owl, out, count, bow, cowl.

Take 5: listen to these sounds again. Then repeat them. Continue until you feel confident.

Have you revised these ipa symbols? If yes, let’s move onto the consonant section.

Consonants in the IPA chart

Consonants are the biggest section as they have 24 symbols. Remember, they are not divided into sections like vowels. Hear them below.

As with the vowel section, take a look below for more examples.

p

Pay, happy, pet.

ʧ

Choke, watch, catch.

b

Best, trouble, tub.

f

Fine, offer, off.

s

Miss, face, snake.

v

Vine, of, save.

t

Mat, tile, flat.

ʃ

Show, push, rush.

d/

Dip, sad, mad.

θ

Thin, both, method.

k

Cat, back, talk.

ð

With, then, other.

ʤ

Joke, June, large.

g

Game, bag, big.

n

Nail, fun, nine.

z

Crazy, lazy, phase.

h

He, heal, hill.

ŋ

Sing, fling, wing.

ʒ

Measured, treasure, pleasure.

m

Some, mail, mum.

r

Real, courage, umbrella.

l

Love, like, follow.

w

We show, wheel.

j

You, beyond, yacht.

Take 5: take time to listen and repeat the ipa symbols. 

Once you have done that, see if you can think of any more examples to put into each section and write them in a document. This is important to improve your speech.

Further advice

Find the link to our full version of the chart on our page here https://englishwithlucy.co.uk/phonemic-chart/

Do you need more help? Look at our videos on pronunciation. They will help you get the best results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElcNBKKTVBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5NC9yyTeZ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv7cBMCBUdk