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Always remember that English is not "phonetic". That means that we do not always say a word
the same way that we spell it.
Some words can have the same spelling but different pronunciation, for example:
Some words have different spelling but the same pronunciation, for example:
The alphabet is the set of 26 letters (from A to Z) that we use to represent English in writing.
It is important to understand that the letters of the alphabet do NOT always represent the same
sounds of English.
This section is about pronunciation. And these pages are about pronunciation of the letters of
the alphabet. In our Writing section you can see more about writing the letters of the alphabet.
Alphabet Pronunciation
Below, you can listen to how we pronounce the letters of the alphabet. Remember, this is just for
how we say the "name" of each letter. When we use the letters in words, they often have a
different sound.
We say all the letters of the alphabet the same in British English and American English except
for Z. In British English we say "Zed". In American English we say "Zee".
In the line above (↑) the letters are in normal "alphabetical order".
In the chart below (↓) the letters are NOT in alphabetical order. The letters are grouped by
sound. There are 7 different sounds for the whole alphabet. The letters in each column all have
the same vowel sound:
Notice that Z is known as "Zed" in British English and "Zee" in American English.
Word Stress in English
Word stress is your magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use
word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they don't even know they use it.
Non-native speakers who speak English to native speakers without using word stress, encounter
two problems:
1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast.
2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them.
Understanding Syllables
To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables.
Every word is made from syllables.
Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.
dog dog 1
green green 1
quite quite 1
quiet qui-et 2
orange or-ange 2
table ta-ble 2
expensive ex-pen-sive 3
interesting in-ter-est-ing 4
unrealistic un-rea-lis-tic 4
unexceptional un-ex-cep-tio-nal 5
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u)
or vowel sound.
What is Word Stress?
In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we
accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the
other syllables very quietly.
Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same
when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not
always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.
total stressed
click word to hear shape
syllables syllable
PHO TO GRAPH 3 #1
PHO TO GRAPH ER 4 #2
PHO TO GRAPH IC 4 #3
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE,
converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera
The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English listen
for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you
will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.
Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in
films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it!
1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses,
you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.
Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine that you are
speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You cannot hear clearly. In fact, you
hear only the first two syllables of one of these words, photo... Which word is it, photograph or
photographer? Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is because
in reality you will hear either PHOto... or phoTO... So without hearing the whole word, you
probably know what the word is ( PHOto...graph or phoTO...grapher). It's magic! (Of course,
you also have the 'context' of your conversation to help you.)
This is a simple example of how word stress helps us understand English. There are many, many
other examples, because we use word stress all the time, without thinking about it.
When you learn a new word, you should also learn its stress pattern. If you keep a vocabulary
book, make a note to show which syllable is stressed. If you do not know, you can look in a
dictionary. All dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word. This is where they show which
syllable is stressed, usually with an apostrophe (') just before or just after the stressed syllable.
(The notes at the front of the dictionary will explain the system used.) Look at (and listen to) this
example for the word plastic. There are 2 syllables. Syllable #1 is stressed.
PLAS TIC
/plæs'tIk/ /'plæs tIk/
1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two
stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be
a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main
[primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)
Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the
stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to
"feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.
rule example
rule example
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in
stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a
noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a
verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns
or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.
rule example
For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the stress. For
example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is:
CONtroversy and conTROversy.
Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy
rule example
For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse
For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned
For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part to underSTAND, to overFLOW
Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that word stress is
accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a
sentence.
content words
structure words
Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the
meaning or sense.
Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the
sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or "structure".
If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the
sentence.
If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the sentence. The
sentence has no sense or meaning.
Imagine that you receive this telegram message:
This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you probably
understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for
them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:
The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more correct
grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete, grammatically correct
sentence. But the information is basically the same:
Content Words
Structure Words
In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.
Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds "music" to the language.
It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we speak (and listen to)
the language. The time between each stressed word is the same.
In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR and
GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and GONE is the same. We
maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and
"because I've" more quickly. We change the speed of the small structure words so that the
rhythm of the key content words stays the same.
syllables
2 1 3 1
The following tables can help you decide which words are content words and which words are
structure words:
Exceptions
The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress
a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at
the following dialogue:
Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case
it is a content word).
Linking in English
When we say a sentence in English, we join or "link" words to each other. Because of this
linking, the words in a sentence do not always sound the same as when we say them individually.
Linking is very important in English. If you recognize and use linking, two things will happen:
vowels a e i o u
consonants b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z
The table shows the letters that are vowels and consonants. But the important thing in linking is
the sound, not the letter. Often the letter and the sound are the same, but not always.
though know
uniform honest
Remember that it's the sound that matters. In the next example, "have" ends with:
So we link "have" to the next word "a" which begins with a vowel sound:
If our lips are round at the end of the first word, we insert a W sound:
If our lips are wide at the end of the first word, we insert a Y sound:
For example, the following two words have the same sound, but different meanings and spelling:
hour
our
In the next example, the two words have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings:
Usually homophones are in groups of two (our, hour), but very occasionally they can be in
groups of three (to, too, two) or even four. If we take our "bear" example, we can add another
word to the group"
bare (naked)
bear (the animal)
bear (to tolerate)
You will see many other English words using one or other of these combining forms.
air heir
aisle isle
ante- anti-
eye I
bare bear
be bee
brake break
buy by
cell sell
cent scent
cereal serial
coarse course
complement compliment
dam damn
dear deer
die dye
fair fare
fir fur
flour flower
for four
hair hare
heal heel
hear here
him hymn
hole whole
hour our
idle idol
in inn
knight night
knot not
know no
made maid
mail male
meat meet
morning mourning
none nun
oar or
one won
pair pear
peace piece
plain plane
poor pour
pray prey
principal principle
profit prophet
real reel
right write
root route
sail sale
sea see
seam seem
sight site
sew so
shore sure
sole soul
some sum
son sun
stair stare
stationary stationery
steal steel
suite sweet
tail tale
their there
to too
toe tow
waist waste
wait weight
way weigh
weak week
wear where
In a few cases, a third homophone, although possible, has not been included for simplicity.
Different varieties and accents of English may produce variations in some of these
pronunciations. The homophones listed here are based on Standard British English.
Homophones List for Elementary level
This is a list of useful homophones for elementary level learners.
This list of homophones in alphabetical order is based on Standard British English. Some
words will not be homophones in all accents and varieties of English.
be / bee
bean / been
buy / by
eye / I
hear / here
hour / our
know / no
knows / nose
mail / male
meat / meet
plain / plane
prince / prints
right / write
road / rode
sail / sale
sea / see
son / sun
steal / steel
storey / story
tail / tale
their / there
to / two
wear / where
wood / would
Homophones List for Pre-Intermediate level
This is a list of useful homophones for pre-intermediate level learners.
This list of homophones in alphabetical order is based on Standard British English. Some
words will not be homophones in all accents and varieties of English.
ate / eight
blew / blue
brake / break
cell / sell
cent / sent
creak / creek
dear / deer
feat / feet
find / fined
hair / hare
heal / he’ll
hole / whole
made / maid
new / knew
oar / or
one / won
passed / past
poor / pour
shore / sure
so / sow
sole / soul
stair / stare
their / they're
theirs / there's
threw / through
throne / thrown
way / weigh
we’d / weed
we’ll / wheel
which / witch
who's / whose
your / you’re
Homophones List for Intermediate level
This is a list of useful homophones for intermediate level learners.
This list of homophones in alphabetical order is based on Standard British English. Some
words will not be homophones in all accents and varieties of English.
allowed / aloud
band / banned
bare / bear
billed / build
boar / bore
board / bored
bold / bowled
bread / bred
bridal / bridle
cent / scent
cereal / serial
chews / choose
crews / cruise
days / daze
desert (v) / dessert
dies / dyes
fair / fare
farther / father
fir / fur
flew / flu
flour / flower
gnus / news
guessed / guest
guise / guys
hay / hey
heal / heel
heard / herd
higher / hire
I'll / isle
knead / need
knight / night
knot / not
mind / mined
missed / mist
nun / none
ode / owed
oh / owe
pail / pale
pairs / pears
pause / paws
peace / piece
peer / pier
pole / poll
pore / pour
pray / prey
raise / rays
rapper / wrapper
root / route
rose / rows
saw / sore
sew / sow
sight / site
soared / sword
tease / tees
tense / tents
toad / towed
toes / tows
wait / weight
war / wore
wares / wears
warn / worn
weakly / weekly
weather / whether
weave / we’ve
Homophones List for Upper-Intermediate
level
This is a list of useful homophones for upper-intermediate level learners. This list of
homophones in alphabetical order is based on Standard British English. Some words will not
be homophones in all accents and varieties of English.
altar / alter
bail / bale
bald / bawled
ball / bawl
base / bass
bases / basis
berries / buries
bough / bow (v)
brews / bruise
ceiling / sealing
cellar / seller
chili / chilly
cite / sight
clause / claws
climb / clime
coarse / course
coo / coup
cue / queue
faint / feint
faze / phase
few / phew
file / phial
flair / flare
flaw / floor
foul / fowl
frays / phrase
gel / jell
genes / jeans
gilled / guild
gilt / guilt
grade / greyed
grate / great
graze / greys
groan / grown
heard / herd
heel / he’ll
idle / idol
lacks / lax
lays / laze
leased / least
loch / lock
locks / lox
loot / lute
mall / maul
manner / manor
mewl / mule
mews / muse
miner / minor
moat / mote
mode / mowed
muscle / mussel
paced / paste
palate / palette
peak / pique
praise / prays
pride / pried
pries / prize
principal / principle
profit / prophet
sac / sack
sacks / sax
scents / sense
seamen / semen
seas / seize
side / sighed
sighs / size
sign / sine
sink / sync
slay / sleigh
some / sum
straight / strait
suede / swayed
suite / sweet
sundae / Sunday
tacks / tax
Thai / tie
thyme / time
told / tolled
tracked / tract
troop / troupe
trussed / trust
tucks / tux
yoke / yolk
Homophones List for Advanced level
This is a list of useful homophones for advanced level learners.
This list of homophones in alphabetical order is based on Standard British English. Some
words will not be homophones in all accents and varieties of English.
ail / ale
airs / heirs
aisle / I'll
ascent / assent
aural / oral
auricle / oracle
berth / birth
boy / buoy
cached / cashed
carrot / karat
cede / seed
censor / sensor
chased / chaste
choirs / quires
chords / cords
chute / shoot
coax / cokes
cocks / cox
coffer / cougher
colonel / kernel
cops / copse
core / corps
cygnet / signet
cymbal / symbol
dew / due
done / dun
draft / draught
earns / urns
ewes / use
eyelet / islet
gnu / knew
halls / hauls
heed / he’d
hertz / hurts
him / hymn
hoarse / horse
holy / wholly
instance / instants
intense / intents
jewels / joules
key / quay
knap / nap
knead / need
knit / nit
knob / nob
lichens / likens
licker / liquor
lieu / loo
links / lynx
loon / lune
marshal / martial
medal / meddle
metal / mettle
oohs / ooze
racks / wracks
rapt / wrapped
recede / reseed
receipt / reseat
reek / wreak
reign / rein
rest / wrest
review / revue
rex / wrecks
ring / wring
rite / wright
rote / wrote
rude / rued
rye / wry
taught / taut
tear / tier
vail / veil
vain / vein
variance / variants
vial / vile
wade / weighed
watts / what’s
wright / write
Alphabet Homophones
Pronouncing the English alphabet - with homophones and matching sounds,
common uses, rhyming letters, rhyming words and common confusions
Many learners find it difficult to say and/or remember the English alphabet, either because the
sounds used in English don't exist in their language or because the letters are pronounced
differently in their language. This table is designed to give five different kinds of help to such
people.
The pronunciations below are for British English. Note that in American English some of the
homophones and rhyming words may be different, and Z is pronounced "zee" (not "zed").
B, D, E, G, P,
C sea, see CNN, BBC, CIF, cc we, flea S, K
T, V
B, C, E, G, P,
D delighted, deep CD, ID, PhD knee, glee
T, V
B, C, D, G, P,
E feet, geek e-mail, e.g., QED he, key A
T, V
B, C, D, E, P,
G gee G20, GMT, G-spot free, we J
T, V
H H-bomb, HTML, HQ ash, itch, hatch
B, C, D, E, G,
P pea, pee asap, PC, PLC she, he B
T, V
B, C, D, E, G,
T tea, tee TNT, TLC, PTO free, tree D
P, V
X Men, X-ray,
X ex, ex- sex, checks Z
X-chromosome
YKK, YMCA,
Y why I fly, buy E, I
Y-chromosome
you're / your
it's / its
we're / weir
they're / their, there
aren't / aunt
we've / weave
I'd / eyed
he'd / heed
we'd / weed
I'll / isle
you'll / yule
he'll / heel, heal
we'll / wheel
here's / hears
there's / theirs
what's / watts
who's / whose
You should be particularly careful with the spelling of the words in bold. They are often
misspelled - even by native English speakers!
Contractions
Pronunciation tips (including homophones)
This table covers "be", "have" and "will" only (not verbs like "should" and "can") because these
are the verbs where homophones can help you understand and remember some of the
contractions.
Only one pronunciation is given for each contraction, but there may be other pronunciations when
unstressed or in other varieties of English.
common
homophones confusions
pronunciation
long (number of same different
verb form contraction syllables) pronunciation pronunciation rhymes with
you
you're |yor| (1) your/yore jaw jaw/more/four
are
they
they're |thear| (1) their/there dare pair/fair
are
were
weren't |wurnt| (1) - want/won't burnt/learnt
not
you
you've |yoov| (1) - - move/prove
have
she
she's |sheez| (1) - seas/sees seas/he's
has
we
we've |weev| (1) weave with peeve/believe
have have
they
they've |theiv| (1) - dave dave/brave
have
you
you'd |yood| (1) - jude (name) food/renewed
had
she
she'd |sheed| (1) - shed/seed seed/he'd
had
it had it'd |itud| (2) - - -
they
they'd |theid| (1) - - spade/paid
had
you
you'll |yuul| (1) yule you all/jewel tool
will
she
she'll |sheel| (1) - shell he'll/feel
will
will
won't |woant| (1) - want don't
not
you
you'd |yood| (1) - jude (name) food/renewed
would
he
he'd |heed| (1) heed hid/head/feed feed/need
would
she
she'd |sheed| (1) - shed/seed seed/he'd
would
it
it'd |itud| (2) - - -
would
we
we'd |weed| (1) weed wed he'd/she'd
would
they
they'd |theid| (1) - - spade/paid
would