Fecha

Pronunciation symbols used by dictionaries


This page gives a comparison table of pronunciation symbols for American English used by Spelling Pronunciation, IPA, Merriam-Webster (MW) Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary (AHD).

Pronunciation Symbols

Vowels

PURE

SOUNDS

IPA

MW

AHD

SPELLED

EXAMPLES

[a]

a

uh

ah

/æ/

/ʌ/

/ɑ:/

\a\

\ˈə\

\ä\

(ă)

(ŭ)

(ä)

a as in cat

u as in cup

ah as in calm

ask, bat, glad

under, putt, bud

cot, bomb, caught, paw

[e]

ey

e

/eɪ/

/ɛ/

\ā\

\e\

(ā)

(ĕ)

ay as in say

e as in bed

eight, wade, bay

bet, fed

[i]

ee

i

/i:/

/ɪ/

\ē\

\i\

(ē)

(ĭ)

ee as in meet

i as in pin

eat, bead, bee

id, bid, pit

[o]

oh

aw

/oʊ/

/ɔ/

\ō\

\ȯ\

(ō)

(ô)

oh as in most

aw as in law

oat, own, zone, blow

caught, paw, port (British)

[u]

oo

oo

yoo

/u:/

/ʊ/

/ju/

\ü\

\\

\yu\

(o͞o)

(o͝o)

(yu)

oo as in soon

uu as in put

ew as in ewe

boot, two, coo

foot, should, put

use, usual

ai

ahy

/aɪ/

\ī\

(ī)

igh as in high

ice, bite, tie

au

ou

/aʊ/

\a\

(ou)

ow as in cow

out, gown, plow

oi

oi

/oɪ/

\ȯi\

(oi)

oy as in boy

oyster, coil, boy

Schwa

uh

/ə/

\ə\

(ə)

uh as in along

about, banana, collide

Syllabic Vowel-r

Schwa + [r]

ur

/ɚ/

\ər\

(ər)

ur as in her

merge, bird, further

ar

ahr

/ɑɚ/

\är\

(är)

ar as in bar

car, heart, bizarre

er

air

/eɚ/

\er\

(âr)

air as in hair

bare, fair, wear

ir

eer

/iɚ/

\ir\

(îr)

eer as in beer

near, deer, mere, pier

or

awr

/oɚ/

\ȯr\

(ôr)

or as in corn

boar, port, door, shore

ur

oor

/uɚ/

\\

(o͝or)

oor as in poor

boor, tour, insure

Consonants

LETTERS

SOUNDS

IPA

MW/AHD

SPELLED

EXAMPLES

b

[b]

/b/

\b\

b

baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub

c

[s]

[k]

/s/

/k/

\s\

\k\

s

k

center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, notice;
cake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic

d

[d]

/d/

\d\

d

day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended

f

[f]

/f/

\f\

f

fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff

g

[g]

[j]

[zh]

/g/

/ʤ/

/ ʒ/

\g\

\j\

\zh\

g

j

zh

game, gap, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egg;
general, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, manage;
mirage, garage, beige, rouge

h

[h]

[-]

/h/

/-/

\h\

\-\

h

-

hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherit;
hour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah

j

[j]

/ ʤ/

\j\

j

jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just

k

[k]

/k/

\k\

k

Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look

l

[l]

/l/

\l\

l

late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely, table, file, all

m

[m]

/m/

\m\

m

make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form

n

[n]

/n/

\n\

n

napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun

p

[p]

/p/

\p\

p

paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp

q (qu)

[kw]

[k]

/kw/

/k/

\kw\

\k\

kw

k

quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require;
unique, technique, antique, grotesque

r

[r]

/r/

\r\

r

rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car

s

[s]

[z]

/s/

/z/

\s\

\z\

s

z

send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, release;
cause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was

t

[t]

/t/

\t\

t

task, tell, time, tone, tune, hotel, attentive, student, boat, rest

v

[v]

/v/

\v\

v

vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active

w

[w]

/w/

\w\

w

wall, war, way, west, wind, word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist

x

[ks]

[gz]

[z]

/ks/

/gz/

/z/

\ks\

\gz\

\z\

ks

gz

z

exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relax;
exam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exult;
Xenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone

y

[y]

/j/

\y\

y

yes, year, opinion

z

[z]

[ts]

/z/

/ts/

\z\

\ts\

z

ts

zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazz;
pizza, Mozart, Nazi, waltz

Combinations


LETTERS

SOUNDS

IPA

MW/AHD

SPELLED

EXAMPLES

cc

[ks]

[k]

/ks/

/k/

\ks\

\k\

ks

k

accent, accept, access, eccentric, accident;
accommodate, account, accuse, occur, acclaim

ch

tch

[ch]

/tʃ/

\ch\

ch

chain, check, chief, choose, teacher, much, church;
kitchen, catch, match, watch, pitch, stretch

ch (Latin, Greek)

ch (French)

[k]

[sh]

/k/

/ʃ/

\k\

\sh\

k

sh

character, chemical, Chris, archive, mechanic, technical
champagne, charlatan, chef, chic, machine, cache

ck

[k]

/k/

\k\

k

black, pack, deck, kick, pick, cracker, pocket, rocket

dge

[j]

/ʤ/

\j\

j

bridge, edge, judge, knowledge, budget, badger

gh

[g]

[f]

[-]

/g/

/f/

/-/

\g\

\f\

\-\

g

f

-

ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto;
cough, enough, rough, tough, laugh;
though, through, weigh, neighbor, bought, daughter

gu

[g]

[gw]

/g/

/gw/

\g\

\gw\

g

gw

guard, guess, guest, guide, guitar, dialogue;
language, linguistics, Guatemala, Nicaragua

ng

[ŋ]

[ŋ]+[g]

/ ŋ/

/ŋg/

\ ŋ\

\ ŋg\

ng

ngg

king, sing, singer, singing, bang, long, wrong, tongue;
finger, anger, angry, longer, longest, single

ph

[f]

/f/

\f\

f

phone, photograph, phrase, phenomenon, biography

qu

[kw]

[k]

/kw/

/k/

\kw\

\k\

kw

k

quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require;
unique, technique, antique, grotesque

sc

[s]

[sk]

/s/

/sk/

\s\

\sk\

s

sk

science, scissors, scene, scent, scythe;
scan, scandal, scare, score, Scotch, scuba

sch

[sk]

/sk/

\sk\

sk

school, scholar, scheme, schedule;
schnauzer, schedule (British)

sh

[sh]

/ʃ/

\sh\

sh

share, she, shine, shoe, fish, cash, push, punish

th

[th]

[th]

/θ/

/ð/

\th\

\th\

th

dh

thank, thick, think, thought, thunder, author, breath, bath;
this, that, then, though, father, brother, breathe, bathe

wh

[w]

[h]

/w/

/h/

\w\

\h\

w

h

what, when, where, which, while, why, whale, wheel
who, whom, whose, whole

xh

[ks]

[ks]+[h]

[g]+[z]

/ks/

/ksh/

/gz/

\ks\

\ks-h\

\gz\

ks

ksh

gz

exhibition;
exhumation, exhume, exhale;
exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate, exhort, exhume, exhale

With silent letters

bt, pt

[t]

/t/

\t\

t

doubt, debt, subtle; receipt, pterodactyl

kn, gn, pn

[n]

/n/

\n\

n

knee, knife, know; gnome, sign, foreign; pneumonia

mb, lm

[m]

/m/

\m\

m

lamb, climb, bomb, comb, tomb; calm, palm, salmon

ps

[s]

/s/

\s\

s

psalm, pseudonym, psychologist, psychiatrist

rh

[r]

/r/

\r\

r

rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, rhythm, rhyme

wr

[r]

/r/

\r\

r

wrap, wreck, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, write, wrong

Letters in the suffix

ti, ci, si, su

[sh]

/ʃ/

\sh\

sh

nation, patient, special, pension, Asia, sensual, pressure

si, su

[zh]

/ʒ/

\zh\

zh

vision, fusion, Asia, usual, visual, measure, pleasure

PURE = Vowel Pure Sounds

SOUNDS = Spelling Pronunciation

IPA = International Phonetic Alphabet

MW = Merriam Webster Dictionary

AHD = The American Heritage Dictionary

SPELLED = Spelling Pronunciation


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