English phonograms

A phonogram is a written symbol that represents a sound or a combination of sounds in a language. They can be letters, letter combinations, or even whole words that consistently represent specific sounds.

Single-letter vowels

Each of the single-letter vowels A, E, I, O, and U represents a long and short vowel sound. A, O, and U also make a third sound which is called the broad sound. Together the single vowels represent 13 vowel sounds.

Phonogram: A

Common sounds

• Short 'A' sound (/æ/):

  • When: 'A' followed by consonant(s) in a closed syllable.

    • 1-Syllable Words: cat, fan, map, sad, bag, ran, jam, hand, lamp, tack, man, can, bat, hat, mat, rat, fat, gap, cap, trap, wag, rag, tag, bad, mad, glad, black, clap, dash, pass

    • 2-Syllable Words: apple, camel, happy, napkin, plastic, traffic, rabbit, ladder, wagon, basket, magnet, cabin, dragon, planet, jacket, hamster, cabbage, backpack, handbag, flatcar, sandbag, canyon, camping, chatter, cracker, drastic, fancy, flannel, granny, lantern

    • More-than-2-Syllable Words: animal, calendar, fantastic, manager, analyst, alphabet, average, bachelor, champion, compassion, imagination, paragraph, anniversary, mathematics, happiness, atlantic, candidate, narrative, gallery, catalogue, capacity, character, classical, companion, dramatic, exaggerate, habitat, hazardous, laminate, magnificent

  • When: in ‘arr’ (alternatively, this can be pronounced /ɛr/

    • marry, carry, barrel, carrot, harrow, parrot, barracks, marrow

  • When: in ‘ar{vowel}’. This pattern excludes words where 'ar' is part of an 'are' ending (typically producing/ɛər/). Alternatively, this can be pronounced /ɛr/

    • parent, apparent, character, clarity, rarity, parity, charity, marathon, parody, narrate, clarify, narration, paramedic, comparison, variance

• Long 'A' sound (/eɪ/):

  • When: in ‘a_e’ or in open, stressed syllables

  • Examples:

    • 1-Syllable Words: bake, cake, make, take, face, game, name, plate, shade, grape, brave, wave, save, chase, space, case, taste, waste, state, hate, late, fate, male, pale, sale, tale, date, gate, mate, rate

    • 2-Syllable Words: able, basic, nation, paper, lady, favor, major, sacred, vacant, baby, crazy, data, famous, gravy, laser, lazy, mason, station, table, bacon

• Broad 'A' sound (/ɑː/):

  • When: in ‘ar’

    • car, far, star, park, dark, card, arm, barn, farm, garden, start, march, sharp, charm, cart, heart, apart

  • When: before 'lm' or 'lf' (where the 'l' is often silent).

    • palm, calm, balm, half, calf, alms, almond

  • When: often occurs before ‘nce’, ‘nd’, ‘nt’, ‘ss’, ‘st’, ‘s'k’, ‘ft’, ‘th’ (British English)

    • nce: nuance, dance, chance, glance, France, romance, advance, prance, trance, enhance, entrance.

    • nd: command, demand, reprimand, propaganda, expand, verandah, understand.

    • nt: plant, grant, slant, chant, ant (BrE), can't (BrE), aunt (BrE), shan't (BrE), vaunt, haunt.

    • ss: class, pass, glass, grass, mass, brass, bypass, trespass, compass, chassis.

    • st: fast, last, master, disaster, castle, pastor, plaster, nasty, contrast, broadcast.

    • sk: ask, task, mask, flask, bask, cask, grasp, clasp.

    • ft: staff, craft, draft, raft, after, laughter, shaft, graft, waft.

    • th: path, bath, rather, lather, math (BrE), wrath, psychopath, mouth (BrE), growth (BrE).

  • When: in some common words/loanwords

    • father, spa, bra, lava, drama, pajamas, safari, ma (informal), pa (informal), haha

  • When: after 'w' or 'qu' (particularly common in many American English dialects, especially those with the 'cot-caught' vowel merger)

    • what, wash, squash, watch, quality, want, swamp, squat, wad, waffle

Other sounds

• Short 'E' sound (/ɛ/):

  • When: in some common words; in word-ending ‘ary’, ‘ari’

  • Examples:

    • many, any, said, says

    • library, primary, necessary, ordinary, military, arbitrary, dictionary, contemporary, secondary, customary, librarian, vegetarian, agrarian

• /ɛər/ sound:

  • When: in word-ending ‘are’, ‘air’:

  • Examples:

    • bare, care, dare, fare, glare, mare, rare, scare, share, spare, square, stare, aware, beware, compare, declare, prepare, nightmare, welfare

    • air, chair, hair, fair, pair, stair, dairy, fairy, repair, despair, unfair, airline, airport, armchair, beware, compare, declare, prepare, questionnaire, millionaire

• “AW” sound (/ɔː/):

  • When: before certain 'l' combinations;

  • Examples:

    • ‘ll’: ball, call, fall, hall, tall, wall, small, stall, thrall, install

    • ‘lk’: talk, walk, chalk, stalk, balk, caulk

    • ‘lt’: salt, halt, malt, alter, assault, exalt

    • ‘ld’: bald, scald

    • ‘ls’: false

    • almost

  • When: in ‘war’ or ‘quar’;

    • water, warm, warn, ward, award, swarm, quart, quarter, dwarf, thwart

Phonogram: E

• Short 'E' sound (/ɛ/):

  • When: 'E' followed by consonant(s) in a closed syllable.

  • Examples: bed, red, pen, hen, leg, web, net, desk, best, left, fresh, spell, dress, send, help, well, chest, mend, step, press

• Long 'E' sound (/iː/):

  • When: 'E' at the end of an open syllable.

  • Examples: we, he, she, me, be, zero, meter, secret, recent, concrete, concede, impede, erase, debate, even, evil, genie, demon, regal, veto

• Short ‘I’ sound (/ɪ)

  • When: often in unstressed syllables or prefixes

    • be-: because, begin, believe, before, behind, belong, behave, beneath, beside, between, beyond, beware

    • de-: decide, define, demand, design, develop, device, declare, depict, derive, descend, detail, determine, devote, defy, delight, deny, depend, depress, detach, deter

    • e- / ex-: exact, examine, example, exceed, except, excite, excuse, exert, exhaust, exhibit, exist, expand, expect, experience, experiment, explain, explode, explore, export, expose, express, extend, elect, event, effect, escape, establish, eleven

    • en- / em-: enable, engage, enjoy, enrich, enroll, ensure, entail, entice, entire, entitle, entrust, envelop, envision, encourage, embarrass, embrace, emerge, emphasis, employ

    • pre-: prepare, predict, precede, prefer, present (verb), prevent, prevail, presume, pretend, predate, prelude, premise, preside, preserve, pretext, procure

    • re-: receive, remember, repeat, report, represent, require, resist, respond, return, reveal, review, revise, revolt, regard, relax, relief, remain, remark, remind, remove, renounce, repair, replace, reply, resolve, respect, resume, retain, retreat

    • se-: secure, select

Phonogram: I

• Short 'I' sound (/ɪ/):

  • When: 'I' followed by consonant(s) in a closed syllable.

  • Examples: sit, pig, fish, swim, thin, dish, clip, trip, wink, knit, rich, stick, gift, print, hint, big, milk, kiss, fill, dig

• Long 'I' sound (/aɪ/):

  1. When: 'i' at the end of an open syllable

     • lion, tiger, silent, vital, final, pilot, crisis, spider, fiber, choir (often /kwaɪər/), rival, siren, bison, migraine, minus

  2. When 'i' followed by a silent 'e' (i_e)

     • bike, time, kite, like, fine, rise, tribe, slide, spine, stride, twice, while, white, write, dime

  3. When 'i' before certain consonant clusters like ‘nd’, ‘ld’

     • wild, child, find, kind, mind, bind, grind, rind, blind, behind, mild,

• Long 'E' sound from 'I' (/iː/):

  • When: Specific words due to historical usage.

  • Examples: machine, police, pizza, radiant, magician, valise, sublime, marine, magazine, caprice, antique, unique, fatigue, oblige, pristine, quinine, iodine, regime, sardine, routine

• /ər/ sound

  • When: in ‘ir’

    • bird, girl, first, shirt, dirt, third, stir, firm, squirt, skirt, thirst, whirl, chirp, flirt, gird, birth, circuit, confirm, mirrored, swirl

• /j/ sound (as in 'y' sound):

  • When: 'i' is unstressed and appears before another vowel (especially 'o' or 'a'), it can contribute to a /j/ sound that merges with or precedes the following vowel. This creates a yod (a /j/ glide) or is part of a diphthong.

    • union, opinion, million, minion, junior, onion, pavilion, valiant, stallion, companion

Phonogram: O

• Short 'O' sound (/ɒ/) (alternatively, broad ‘A’ sound /ɑː/ in American English)

  • When: 'O' followed by consonant(s) in a closed syllable.

  • Examples: dog, hot, box, top, frog, stop, lock, rock, pond, cross, clock, mom, shop, job, spot, cot, frost, doll, block, soft

• Long 'O' sound (/oʊ/):

  1. When 'o' at the end of an open syllable:

     • go, no, so, hero, zero, photo, piano, tomato, potato, banjo, echo, halo, mojo, rodeo, kimono

  2. When 'o' followed by a silent 'e' (o_e):

     • bone, home, nose, vote, rope, pose, rose, globe, chose, broke, spoke, stove, tone, alone, whole

  3. When 'o' before certain consonant clusters ('ld', 'lt’, 'll', 'st')

     • old, cold, bold, gold, hold, bolt, colt, jolt, dolt, revolt, stroll, poll, roll, bowl, toll, most, post, ghost, host, roast

• Long 'OO' sound from 'O' (/uː/ as in "moon"):

  • When: Specific words due to historical spelling or context.

  • Examples: who, move, prove, tomb, gloom, groom, spoon, choose, lose, groove, smooth, tooth, booth, roof, soon, doom, cool, pool, tool, school

• Short 'U' sound (/ʌ/):

  • When: in a stressed closed syllable

    • come, some, love, money, month, front, none, ton, son, worry, mother, brother, won, glove, shove, cover, dozen, onion, honey, comfort, wonder, color, sponge, above, among, nothing, stomach

• /ɔːr/ sound

  • or, for, corn, fork, horse, north, story, port, short, worn, more, score, dorm, born, torn, sport, force, corps, order, organ, shore, ignore, explore, portion, author

Phonogram: U

• Short 'U' sound (/ʌ/):

  • When: 'U' followed by consonant(s) in a closed syllable.

  • Examples: run, sun, cup, bug, nut, mutt, jump, duck, truck, fun, hug, drum, blunt, flush, trust, luck, cut, puff, blush, club

• Long 'U' sound (/uː/ as in "flute"):

  • When: ‘u_e’ or ‘u’ at the end of an open syllable PLUS yod-dropping (sounds /u:/ instead of /ju:/

    • Sounds where yod-dropping is generally expected (resulting in /uː/ for 'u'):

      • /r/: rule, true, rude, crude, prune, brutal, gruesome, truth, thru, rumor

      • /l/: flute, glue, include, blue, soluble, allude, delude, exclude, conclude, salute

      • /s/: sue, assume, pursue, issue, ensue, superfluous, consumer (in some dialects), tissue (in some dialects), ensure, dissuade

      • /z/: presume, resume, amuse, abuse, infuse, peruse, diffuse, suffuse, contuse, excuse

      • /dʒ/: judicious, jurisprudence, judo, jubilant, adjudicate

      • /tʃ/: chute, parachute, archduke, capuchin, fiduciary

    • Sounds where yod-dropping is variable (often dialectal - more common in British English):

      • /t/: tune, student, duty, institute, multitude, constitute, execute, astute, tutorial, mutual

      • /d/: dune, due, reduce, introduce, dubious, endure, subdue, produce, adieu, overdue

      • /n/: new, nude, nuance, neutral, nutrition, avenue, continue, immune, ingenuity, tenure

• Short 'OO' sound from 'U' (/ʊ/ as in "put"):

  • When: Specific words, often before 'll' or 'sh'.

  • Examples: bush, pull, full, push, sugar, cushion, bullet, pulpit, bully, butcher, pudding, stuff, chuck, rumble, crumble, brush, drumstick, plush, rush, gulp

• Long 'U' with 'Y' sound (/juː/):

  • When:

    1. 'u' at the beginning of a word or syllable:

       • unite, unicorn, uniform, usual, utility, unique, university, union, unit, usurp

    2. ‘u_e’ or ‘u’ at the end of an open syllable PLUS NOT yod-dropping

       • cute, huge, muse, cube, duke, fume, mute, pure, lure, compute

       • music, human, future, humor, value, volume, pupil, museum, peculiar, visual

• /ər/ sound:

  • When: in ‘ur’

    • burn, turn, fur, curl, hurt, blur, purple, surf, nurse, curb, purse, murmur, burden, thurst, pursuit, surplus, burial, current, purpose, surface

Phonogram: Y

• Short 'I' sound from 'Y' (/ɪ/):

  • When: 'Y' acts as a letter in a closed syllable.

  • Examples: myth, lynx, gymnast, system, mystery, crystal, symbol, lyric, rhythm, syntax, typical, cynical, physics, cryptic, pyramid, nymph, synonym, syllable, hydrant, hyphen

• Long 'I' sound from 'Y' (/aɪ/):

  • When: 'Y' at the end of a single-syllable word.

    • my, fly, sky, try, dry, cry, why, ply, spy, shy

  • When: in a primary stressed final syllable, or in a secondary stressed final syllable

    • deny, rely, apply, reply, comply, defy, supply

    • amplify, signify, certify, qualify, classify, modify, specify, ally

• Long 'E' sound from 'Y' (/iː/):

  • When: 'Y' at the end of a multi-syllable word.

  • Examples: happy, sunny, funny, candy, party, story, pretty, city, twenty, busy, easy, friendly, wealthy, rocky, lucky, sorry, blurry, juicy, tiny, empty

• 'Y' as a Consonant sound (/j/)

  • When: 'Y' appears at the beginning of a word or syllable, acting like a consonant.

  • Examples: yes, yellow, yard, yawn, yet, you, yolk, young, yummy, yoga

Multi-letter vowels phonograms

R-Controlled Vowel Phonograms

Other Multi-Letter Vowel Phonograms

Consonants

Single-letter consonant phonograms

Multi-Letter Consonant Phonograms