IPA Phoneme Guide
Pronunciation instructions for every IPA phoneme: tongue placement, lip shape, jaw position, voicing, and English example words.
Sounds produced with a partial or full constriction in the vocal tract.
voiceless bilabial stop
pen · spin · cup
voiced bilabial stop
bed · about · job
voiceless alveolar stop
tea · stop · bat
voiced alveolar stop
day · middle · mad
voiceless velar stop
cat · sky · back
voiced velar stop
go · dog · beg
glottal stop
uh-oh · button (cockney) · Hawai'i
voiceless labiodental fricative
fish · coffee · leaf
voiced labiodental fricative
voice · over · live
voiceless dental fricative
thin · bath · theatre
voiced dental fricative
this · mother · breathe
voiceless alveolar fricative
sun · kiss · pass
voiced alveolar fricative
zoo · rose · jazz
voiceless palato-alveolar fricative
shoe · shade · fish
voiced palato-alveolar fricative
vision · measure · beige
voiceless glottal fricative
hat · ahead · behind
voiceless velar fricative
loch · Bach · chutzpah
voiceless palatal fricative
hue · human · huge
voiceless palato-alveolar affricate
church · teacher · catch
voiced palato-alveolar affricate
judge · bridge · giant
voiceless alveolar affricate
cats · pizza · tsunami
bilabial nasal
man · simple · home
alveolar nasal
no · sunny · pen
velar nasal
sing · long · thank
alveolar lateral approximant
light · feel · bottle
alveolar trill / approximant
red · around · far
alveolar approximant (English R)
red · around · far
palatal approximant (Y sound)
yes · beyond · you
labial-velar approximant
we · away · how
alveolar tap (American T)
butter · city · water
voiced uvular fricative (German/French R)
rouge (Fr) · rot (De) · rue (Fr)
Sounds produced with an open vocal tract; classified by tongue height, backness, and lip rounding.
close front unrounded vowel
see · beat · green
long close front vowel
see · meet · leave
near-close near-front vowel
sit · bit · happy
close-mid front unrounded vowel
cafe · fiance · reggae
open-mid front unrounded vowel
bed · said · ten
near-open front unrounded vowel
cat · man · happy
open front unrounded vowel
father · palm · spa
open back unrounded vowel
father · palm · spa
long open back unrounded vowel
father · palm · arm
open back rounded vowel
lot · cloth · cough
open-mid back rounded vowel
thought · law · caught
long open-mid back rounded vowel
thought · law · caught
close-mid back rounded vowel
go · home · show
long close-mid back rounded vowel
home · phone · show
near-close near-back rounded vowel
put · foot · good
close back rounded vowel
too · food · blue
long close back rounded vowel
too · food · blue
open-mid back unrounded vowel
cup · love · mud
mid central vowel (schwa)
about · sofa · taken
r-colored schwa
butter · mother · doctor
r-colored open-mid central vowel
bird · nurse · word
long open-mid central vowel
bird · nurse · word
close front rounded vowel
few (Scottish) · cute · pure
close-mid front rounded vowel
hurt (Scottish) · work · first
near-open central vowel
butter (Br) · comma (Br) · about
close central unrounded vowel
roses · kisses · wishes
close-mid central rounded vowel
foot (some dialects)
Gliding vowels that move continuously between two target positions in a single syllable.
diphthong (eye, my)
my · high · tie
diphthong (face, day)
day · face · rain
diphthong (mouth, now)
now · house · cow
diphthong (goat, show)
go · show · home
diphthong (British goat)
go · boat · home
diphthong (choice, boy)
boy · coin · voice
diphthong (near, here)
near · beer · here
diphthong (square, there)
square · there · care
diphthong (cure, tour)
cure · tour · pure
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