English Spelling and Sound Correspondences

Guide to Pronunciation Index   Pronunciation Symbols

The following lists are representative of the more common ways (and some less common ways) of spelling each sound. They are by no means exhaustive, but they should enable the user who is uncertain of the spelling to find most words in this book. In actual practice, knowing the first five letters of almost any word will get the user to within a few inches of the right place in even the largest unabridged dictionaries.

In these lists, ways of spelling each sound are indicated by boldface letters. Some words may be pronounced in more than one way; any such words on these lists are printed in italics if the relevant portion of the spelling is affected. The pronunciation transcription at the entry for the word will show the variation. If there is no letter in a word representative of a sound heard in that word, the word is given following a dash at the end of the appropriate section, with the pronunciation given in full as in the last two entries at \e\:

-- chasm \'kaz-em\
-- McCoy \me-'ko¯i\

If it is difficult to tell which letter or letters stand for a particular sound in a word, that word appears at the end of the appropriate section, with the pronunciation given in full as in the last entry at \ch\:

nature \'na¯-ch er\

Vowels and Diphthongs

\  e \	a	abut
	e	silent
	i	maritime
	o	connect
	u	circus
	y	physician
	ah	veranda
	ai	captain
	ea	ocean
	ei	mullein
	eo	luncheon
	ia	collegiate
	io	fashion
	oa	waistcoat
	oe	Phoenician
	oi	porpoise
	ou	famous
	ow	pillowcase
	ue	guerilla
	eau	bureaucrat
	--	chasm \'kaz-em\
	--	McCoy \me-'ko¯i\
\ 'e, ,e \	a	was
	o	above
	u	humdrum
	y	Cymric
	oe	does
	oo	flood
	ou	rough
\  er \	ar	liar
	er	batter
	ir	elixir
	or	honor
	re	ogre
	ur	injurer
	yr	martyr
	eur	chauffeur
	our	glamour
\ 'er \	er	fern, were
	ir	bird
	or	world
	ur	fur
	yr	myrtle
	ear	earth
	err	err
	eur	chauffeur
	irr	squirrel
	our	journal
	urr	hurry
	yrrh	myrrh colonel \'kern-el\
\ a \	a	mat, calf
	e	there
	i	meringue
	ae	aerial
	ai	plaid, air
	au	aunt
	ay	prayer
	ea	bear
	ei	their chert \'chert, 'chat\
\ a¯ \	a	fade
	e	melee
	ae	maelstrom
	ai	main, straight
	ao	gaol
	au	gauge
	ay	day
	ea	steak
	ee	matinee
	ei	vein, reign, weigh
	ey	prey
	ie	lingerie
	ui	Uitlander

\ a¯ \

b

farther, father, guard

	e	entree, sergeant
	i	lingerie
	o	cot
	aa	bazaar
	ah	shah
	au	nautical
	ea	heart
	ou	nought
	eau	bureaucracy patois \'pa-twa¯, 'pa¯-\

\ a¯ \

a

father, calf

	ar	cart (in the speech of so-called r-droppers)
	au	aunt
	aar	bazaar (in the speech of so-called r-droppers)

\ au¯ \	au	sauerkraut
	ou	loud, bough
	ow	now
	aou	caoutchouc
\ e \	a	any
	e	bet, err, guess
	i	vanilla
	u	bury
	ae	aesthetic, aerial
	ai	said, air
	ay	says, prayer
	ea	bread, bear
	ei	heifer, their
	eo	leopard
	ie	friend
	oe	foetid
	ieu	lieutenant
	--	mbira \em-'bir-e\
\ e¯ \	e	me
	i	ski
	y	pretty
	ae	aeon
	ay	Monday, quay
	ea	easy
	ee	see, beet
	ei	receive
	eo	people
	ey	key
	ie	grief
	oe	phoebe, foetid shillelagh, shillalah \she-'la¯-le¯\ chamois \'sham-e¯, also sham-'wa¯\
\ i \	a	homage, catercorner
	e	England, pretty, serious
	i	tip
	o	women
	u	busy
	y	myth
	ea	hear
	ee	been, beer, creek
	ei	counterfeit, weird
	ia	carriage
	ie	sieve
	ui	building
\ i¯ \	i	fine, sigh, guide
	y	sly
	ai	aisle, aioli
	ay	bayou, papaya
	ei	heist, height
	ey	geyser
	ie	lie
	oy	coyote
	uy	buy
	ye	dye
	aye	aye
	eye	eye choir  \'kwi¯(-e)r\
\ o¯ \	a	quahog, cupola
	o	bone, folk
	ao	pharoah
	au	chauvinist
	eo	yeoman
	ew	sew
	oa	coat
	oe	doe
	oh	oh, Noh
	oo	brooch
	ou	boulder, though
	ow	know
	ua	quahog
	eau	plateau
	--	burgh \'ber-(,)o¯, 'be-(,)ro¯\ ewe  \'yu¯, 'yo¯ \

\ o¯ \	a	ball, talk
o	soft

	ah	Utah
	au	sausage, caught
	aw	saw
	eo	Georgian
	oa	broad
	ou	cough, thought
	ow	toward

\ o¯i \

aw

lawyer

	eu	Freudian
	oi	coin
	oy	boy
	uoy	buoy sawing \'so¯(-)in\

\ u¯ \	o	do, move, two
u	flu

	w	crwth, cwm
	eu	rheumatism, maneuver
	ew	crew
	oe	shoe
	oo	school
	ou	youth
	ue	blue
	ui	cruise
	eew	leeward
	ieu	lieutenant
	oeu	manoeuvre beauty \'byu¯t-e\ ewe  \'yu¯, 'yo¯ \ peewit  \'pe¯-,wit, 'pyu¯-et\

\ u¯ \	o	woman, wolf
u	pull

	oo	wood
	ou	could

Consonants

\ b \	b	baby
	v	government, seven
	bb	rubber
	bh	bhang
	pb	cupboard, raspberry
\ ch \	c	cello
	ch	chin
	cz	Czech
	si	tension
	te	righteous
	ti	question
	tch	match nature  \'na¯-cher\
\ d \	d	did
	dd	ladder
	dh	dhow
	ed	seemed
	ld	would (In the speech of most Americans t and tt between vowels are pronounced the same as d and dd).
\ f \	f	fan, safe
	ff	offer
	gh	laugh
	lf	calf
	ph	telephone
	--	lieutenant \lu¯-'ten-ent, Brit le(f)-'ten-\
\ g \	g	go
	gg	egg
	gh	ghost
	gu	guide, plague example \ig-'zam-pel\
\ h \	g	Gila monster
	h	hat
	j	jai alai
	ch	Chanukah
	wh	who
\ hw \	ju	marijuana, San Juan
	wh	whale, when
\ j \	g	gem
	j	joy
	ch	Greenwich
	dg	budget, bridge
	di	soldier
	dj	adjective
	gg	exaggerate
	gi	region
	jj	hajj graduation \,graj-e-'wa¯-shen\
\ k \	c	catch
	k	kid, take
	q	quit
	cc	account
	ch	chaos, loch, schism
	ck	pick
	cq	acquire
	cu	biscuit
	gh	lough
	kh	khaki
	kk	chukka, pukka
	lk	talk
	qu	liquor, plaque, quay
	cch	saccharine
	cqu	lacquer tax \'taks\
\ k_ \	h	Hanukkah, Hasid
	ch	loch, Chasid
	gh	lough
\ l \	l	low, sale
	ll	filling, faille
	lh	Lhasa apso
	ln	kiln
\ el \	l	dirndl
	al	pedal
	el	betel
	le	battle
	yl	phenyl
\ m \	m	me, come
	gm	phlegm
	lm	calm
	mb	comb
	mh	mho
	mm	dummy
	mn	autumn
	chm	drachm
\ em \	en	open, happen
	ain	captain

ernm

government

\ n \	n	no, alone
	gn	sign, gnat, reign
	kn	knot
	mn	mnemonic
	mp	comptroller
	nn	banner
	pn	pneumonia

\ en \

en

sudden

	on	cotton
	ain	certain

\ n \	n	ink, finger, orangutan
	nd	handkerchief
	ng	sing, singer
	ngg	mah-jongg
	ngu	harangue
\ p \	p	port, stop, ape
	ph	shepherd, diphthong
	pp	supper
\ r \	r	red, care, card, car (Many people usually, some people occasionally, do not pronounce r followed by a consonant or pause)
	rh	rhyme
	rr	merry
	wr	write
	rrh	diarrhea colonel  \'kern-el\
\ s \	c	proceed, race
	s	say, loose
	z	pretzel
	ps	psalm
	sc	fascinate, scissors
	ss	mass
	st	listen, Christmas
	ts	tsar
	tz	tzar
	sch	schism
	sth	isthmus tax \'taks\
\ sh \	c	oceanic
	s	sugar, sure
	ch	machine
	ci	special
	sc	fascism
	se	nauseous
	sh	shy
	si	emulsion
	sk	ski
	ss	tissue
	ti	nation
	chi	marchioness
	psh	pshaw
	sch	schist
	sci	conscious
	ssi	mission
	chsi	fuchsia
\ t \	t	tea, eat, late
	bt	debt
	ct	ctenoid
	ed	walked
	pt	ptomaine, receipt
	th	thyme, Thomas, Thai
	tt	button
	cht	yacht
	ght	night, straight

phth

phthisic

\ th \	gh	trough
	th	thin, breath
	ght	drought

	chth	chthonic
	phth	phthalein

\ _t_h \	dd	eisteddfod
	dh	edh
	th	this, teething, breathe
\ v \	f	of
	v	very, save
	w	wedeln
	ph	Stephen
	vv	savvy
\ w \	u	persuade, quit
	w	way
	ju	San Juan, marijuana
	ou	ouabain, bivouac
	wh	whale, when
	--	one \'wen\ choir \'kwi¯(-e)r\ patois \'pa-,twa¯, 'pa¯\ strenuous \'stren-ye-wes\
\ y \	i	opinion
	j	hallelujah
	y	yard beauty \'byu¯t-e¯\ can~on \'kan-yen\ cute \'kyu¯t\ feud \'fyu¯d\ few \'fyu¯\ strenuous \'stren-ye-wes\ tortilla \to¯r-'te¯-(y)e\ unit \'yu¯-net\
\ z \	s	days, was, please
	x	xylophone, bateaux
	z	zone, haze
	cz	czar
	sc	discern
	ss	scissors
	ts	tsar
	tz	tzar
	zz	buzz example  \ig-'zam-pel\
\ zh \	g	regime, beige
	j	jongleur
	si	vision
	zi	glazier
	ssi	fission azure \'azh-er\ measure  \'mezh-er, 'ma¯zh-\

Silent Letters

The following letters often appear in the spelling but with no corresponding sound in the pronunciation of some words.  Perhaps every letter of the alphabet is ``silent'' (by which we really mean ``unpronounced'') in some English word or other.  For instance, nc is not pronounced in blancmange.  Many such uncommon or rare instances are not included in this list.

	b	comb, debt
	c	Connecticut, ctenoid
	ch	yacht, chthonic
	e	date, live, battle, seemed, plague
	g	gnat, sign, diaphragm
	gh	night, straight, though, thought
	h	hour, honor, rhyme, thyme
	i	business, parliament
	k	knot, know
	l	talk, folk, would, calm
	m	mnemonic
	n	autumn, government, kiln
	o	sophomore, opossum
	p	cupboard, pneumonia, psalm, ptomaine, raspberry
	ph	phthalein, phthisic
	r	surprise \se(r)-'pri¯z\ (Many people usually, most people occasionally, do not pronounce r when followed by a consonant or pause.)
	s	aisle, island, patois, demesne
	t	beret, boatswain, Christmas, depot, listen
	th	asthma, isthmus, northeaster
	u	biscuit, build, guest, pursuivant, quay
	ue	plague, plaque
	w	who, write, two, sword, boatswain
	x	faux pas, bateaux
	y	yeast
	z	rendezvous