English phonetics: the IPA chart with the 44 sounds of English

If you’ve ever opened a dictionary and found something like /ˈfəʊ.tə.ɡrɑːf/ right next to photograph, or asked how a word is pronounced because «it isn’t read the way it’s written», you’re not alone. In English, spelling and sound go their separate ways: though, through, tough, cough, thought and bough all end the same way and are pronounced six different ways. That’s why there’s a system that writes sounds exactly as they sound: the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Don’t worry, because you don’t need to know all of it to make good use of it. In this guide I explain what phonetics is and what it’s for, give you the tables of the 44 sounds of English with example words (12 vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants), point out the sounds that learners find hardest, show you how to read a transcription in the dictionary, explain the differences between British and American English, and cover the most typical mistakes. At the end there are thirty practice sentences with answers. Let’s get started! 🙂

What phonetics and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system that gives one symbol to each sound, so a transcription tells you exactly how a word sounds, without guessing. In English, one letter can sound in many ways, and one sound can be spelled in many ways:

Listen to the six words, in the order of the table:

Two basic rules for reading the IPA: a transcription goes between slashes (/kæt/) and each symbol always stands for the same sound, however the word is spelled. And you don’t need to learn the whole alphabet: English uses only 44 sounds.

The 44 sounds of English

In standard British English (RP, Received Pronunciation, the variety used by Cambridge English) there are 12 vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants. A diphthong is a vowel that changes quality during the sound (like the i in time), while pure vowels keep the same quality.

The 12 vowels

Vowels with a colon (/ː/) are long; the rest are short. Length is a real difference in meaning: ship and sheep differ only in length.

Listen to the 36 example words, row by row:

The 8 diphthongs

Listen to the 24 example words, row by row:

The 24 consonants

Many English consonants come in pairs: the same mouth position, one voiceless (no vibration in the throat) and one voiced (with vibration). Check it by putting your fingers on your throat and saying /s/ and /z/.

Listen to each row: first the two voiceless words and then the two voiced ones:

And these other eight consonants don’t form pairs:

Listen to the 16 example words, row by row:

The sounds learners find hardest

Which sounds are hard depends on your first language. For speakers of Spanish, which has only 5 vowels against English’s 12, almost all the problems come from sounds that don’t exist in Spanish or that get mixed up with another one:

• /ɪ/ and /iː/ (ship and sheep): Spanish has a single i, so they tend to sound the same. The difference is length and tension, and it changes the meaning of the word.
• /æ/, /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ (cat, cup, car): they all get absorbed into one Spanish a, but they’re three different sounds.
• /ə/ and /ɜː/ (about, bird): no equivalent. The schwa is the most frequent sound in English and appears in unstressed syllables.
• /ʊ/ and /uː/ (book and food): as with i, one Spanish u covers two sounds.
• /v/ and /b/ (van and ban): not distinguished in Spanish. /v/ is made with the top teeth on the bottom lip.
• /z/ and /ʒ/ (zoo, vision): voiced sounds that don’t exist in standard Spanish. /ʒ/ is like a voiced sh.
• /dʒ/ and /j/ (jam and yam): they’re confused because Spanish y and ll are close to the first one, but they’re different sounds.
• /θ/ and /ð/ (think and this): in Spain there’s the z of zapato, which is /θ/. /ð/ is its voiced version, and it’s the one most often left out.
• /h/ and /ŋ/ (hat, sing): /h/ is a soft breath, and /ŋ/ takes no final /ɡ/ in sing.

How to read a phonetic transcription in the dictionary

When you look a word up in a dictionary like Cambridge or Oxford, you’ll see something like this: photograph /ˈfəʊ.tə.ɡrɑːf/. These are the signs you need to be able to read:

• /ˈ/: marks the syllable with the main stress, just before it. In photograph, the stress falls on pho-.
• /ˌ/: marks a secondary stress, weaker, like the one on pho- in photographic /ˌfəʊ.təˈɡræf.ɪk/.
• /./: separates syllables.
• /ː/: the vowel before it is long.

The stress also changes within a word family, and you can see it at once in the IPA: photograph /ˈfəʊ.tə.ɡrɑːf/, photographer /fəˈtɒɡ.rə.fə/ and photographic /ˌfəʊ.təˈɡræf.ɪk/. If you’d like examples with the IPA already done, my post on the English alphabet gives the pronunciation of every letter.

British and American English

Most symbols are the same in both varieties. The main differences you’ll see in a dictionary are:

• Final /r/: in American English it’s pronounced (car /kɑːr/) and in British English it isn’t (car /kɑː/).
• /əʊ/ against /oʊ/: go is /ɡəʊ/ in British English and /ɡoʊ/ in American English.
• /ɒ/ against /ɑː/: hot is /hɒt/ in British English and /hɑːt/ in American English.

In this guide I use British English, the one used by Cambridge English, but either variety is valid in the exams as long as you’re consistent.

Phonetics in the Cambridge exams

The exam doesn’t ask you to write or read IPA, but phonetics helps in three places:

• Speaking. Pronunciation is one of the assessment criteria (individual sounds, word and sentence stress, and intonation). A perfect accent isn’t expected, only that you’re easy to understand. Telling /ɪ/ from /iː/ or /v/ from /b/ well avoids misunderstandings.
• Listening. Many audio mix-ups come from pairs of similar sounds (ship and sheep, live and leave). Knowing the sounds helps you tell them apart.
• Vocabulary study. Being able to read the IPA in the dictionary lets you learn every new word with its correct pronunciation from the start, without having to fix it later.

Common mistakes when reading the IPA

• ❌ Reading the symbols with the sounds of your own language. → ✅ Each symbol has its own sound, and /j/ is a consonant y, not a j.
• ❌ Ignoring the colon /ː/. → ✅ It marks a long vowel, and it changes the meaning: sit /sɪt/ and seat /siːt/.
• ❌ Pronouncing the g of sing. → ✅ sing is /sɪŋ/, with no final /ɡ/.
• ❌ Mixing up slashes / / and square brackets [ ]. → ✅ Slashes are the phonemic transcription you see in dictionaries.
• ❌ Thinking silent letters get a symbol. → ✅ In knife /naɪf/ the k doesn’t appear, because it isn’t pronounced.
• ❌ Adding an e before s + consonant («espeak»). → ✅ speak is /spiːk/, with no initial vowel.

Tips for practising

• Learn the symbols in groups: first long and short vowels, then diphthongs, and finally the difficult consonants.
• Use the dictionary every day and read the IPA of each new word out loud.
• Practise minimal pairs (ship and sheep, bat and bet, van and ban), which are words that differ in only one sound.
• Record yourself and compare with the dictionary’s audio.

Frequently asked questions about English phonetics

How many sounds does English have?

44 in standard British English: 12 vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants. American English has around 40, depending on how you count.

What’s the difference between letters and sounds?

Letters are the 26 of the alphabet. Sounds are the 44 of the IPA. That’s why one letter can sound in several ways and one sound can be spelled in several ways.

Do I need to learn the IPA to pass a Cambridge exam?

No. The exam doesn’t require it, but it helps you improve your pronunciation and study vocabulary with a good model.

What is the schwa?

The sound /ə/, a neutral, short vowel that appears in unstressed syllables (about, teacher). It’s the most frequent sound in English.

What’s the difference between /ɪ/ and /iː/?

/ɪ/ is short and relaxed (ship) and /iː/ is long and tense (sheep). Swapping one for the other changes the word.

Are transcriptions written the same in every dictionary?

Almost. There are small differences between dictionaries and between British and American English, but the symbols are the same.

English phonetics exercises

Thirty sentences to check you’ve got it. Below you’ll find three interactive exercises that mark themselves, so you’ll know straight away how you did.

And if you prefer a version in text that you can copy and paste, you have it down here 👇

Exercise 1: choose the correct transcription

Choose the correct phonetic transcription for each word.

Exercise 2: from IPA to the word

Write the word that matches the transcription.

Exercise 3: same vowel sound

Choose the word that has the same vowel sound.

Conclusion

To sum up in three ideas: the IPA writes one symbol for each sound, so it tells you exactly how a word sounds; English has 44 sounds (12 vowels, 8 diphthongs and 24 consonants), and the hardest are the ones that other languages don’t distinguish (/ɪ/ and /iː/, /æ/ and /ʌ/, /v/ and /b/, /θ/ and /ð/); and learning to read the dictionary is the fastest way to improve your pronunciation.

If you want to keep going with this topic, the natural next step is my post on the English alphabet, with the pronunciation of every letter and a full audio.

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See you in the next post. Until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂