IPA Chart

Aim:
This page is to show you the sounds of English from the International Phonemic Alphabet (the IPA), and allow you to listen to some example words containing these sounds.

The IPA comprises sounds made by native speakers of British English. Each symbol in the tables below is followed by a button labeled with an example spelling of a word that contains that sound, and the same word in IPA symbols. Click the buttons to hear the words containing these sounds. Slashes around a word; e.g. /kæt/, show sounds rather than spelling.

On this page: Vowels | Diphthongs | Consonants

 

Vowels

  Mouth wider horizontally Mouth narrower horizontally
Mouth
narrower
vertically

iː

sleep /sliːp/

I  

slip /slIp/

ʊ

book /bʊk/

uː

boot /buːt/
 
e

ten /ten/

ə

after /a
ːftə/

ɜː

bird /b
ɜːd/

ɔː

bored /bɔːd/
Mouth
wider
vertically

æ

cat /kæt/

^

cup / k^p/

ɑː

car  / cɑːr/

ɒ

hot /hɒt/

 

Diphthongs


Iə

beer /bIə/


eI

say /seI/
 

ʊə

fewer /fjʊə/


ɔI

boy /bɔI/

ə ʊ

no /nəʊ/


eə

bear /beə/


aI

high /haI/

aʊ

cow /kaʊ/

 

Consonants


p

pan /pæn/

b

ban /bæn/

t

tan /tæn/

d

day /deI/

ʧ

chat /
ʧæt/

ʤ

judge /ʤ^ʤ/

k

key /kiː/

g


get /get/

f

fan /fæn/

v

van / væn/

θ

thin /θIn/

ð

than /ðæn/

s

sip /sIp/

z

zip / zIp/




ship /
Ip/

ʒ

vision /vIʒ^n/

m

might /maIt/

n

night /naIt/

ŋ

thing /θIŋ/

h

height /haIt/

l

light /laIt/

r

right /raIt/

w

white /waIt/

j

yes /jes/

 

Note: This page uses the fonts called "Arial Unicode MS" and "Lucida Sans Unicode". If you cannot see some of the characters above, please install one of these fonts.

 

Last updated on: Monday, July 29, 2019