The English language has 26 alphabets, but it is quite interesting that it has 44 phonemes. Phonemes are nothing but the unit sound differentiating one word from the another. These 44 phonemes consist of the following sounds.
- Five short vowel sounds: short a, short e, short i, short o, short u
- Five long vowel sounds: long a, long e, long i, long o, long u
- Two other vowel sounds: oo, ??
- Five r-controlled vowel sounds: ar, ?r, ir, or, ur
- Eighteen consonant sounds: b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z
- Seven digraphs: th(unvoiced), th(voiced), ng, sh, ch, zh, wh
- Two vowel diphthongs: ow, oy
So, let us take a look at all 44 phoneme sounds with their example list. The phonemes are broadly divided into vowels and consonants.
List of Vowels Phoneme Sounds
Following is a list 19 Vowel phoneme sounds in English along with their graphemes and example words.
| S.No | Phonemes | Graphemes (way of writing a phoneme) | Examples |
| 1 | a | a, au | cat, bat, laugh, sand, hat |
| 2 | e | e, ea | bed, end, bread, bend, best |
| 3 | i | i | it, is, if, ink, in |
| 4 | o | o, a, au, aw, ough | fought, bought, hot, slaw, maul |
| 5 | u | u, o | up, ton, bug, won, bun |
| 6 | ? | a, ae, ay, ai, ey, ei, a_e | bacon, date, say, rain, grey |
| 7 | ? | e, ea, ee, ie, ey, y, e_e | we, geese, brief, meat, fleet |
| 8 | ? | i, i_e, igh, y, ie | grind, wide, fight, sly, tie |
| 9 | ? | o, o_e, oa, ou, ow | antidote, tow, go, float, cloud |
| 10 | ? | u, u_e, ew | mute, threw, human, use, few |
| 11 | oo | oo, u, oul | hook, crook, should, could, put |
| 12 | ?? | oo, u, u_e | soon, moon, rule, cube, mule |
| 13 | ow | ow, ou, ou_e | cow, how, pout, out, house |
| 14 | oy | oi, oy | coin, join, decoy, toy, coy |
| 15 | ar | ar | car, bar, tar, jar, far |
| 16 | ?r | air, ear, are | air, chair, fair, ear, bear, hair, hare |
| 17 | or | or, ore, oor | for, nor, ore, core, door |
| 18 | ir | irr, ere, eer | mirror, here, beer, peer, deer |
| 19 | ur | ur, ir, er, ear, or, ar | firm, stern, urn, work, dollar |
List of Consonants Phoneme Sounds
Following is a list 25 consonant phoneme sounds in English along with their graphemes and example words.
| S.No | Phonemes | Graphemes | Examples |
| 20 | b | b, bb | big, bat, ball, rubber, blubber |
| 21 | d | d, dd, ed | dot, dog, add, fed, red |
| 22 | f | f, ph | phoneme, phone, fish, fat, fry |
| 23 | g | g, gg | good, go, game, egg, nogg |
| 24 | h | h | hot, had, hat, happy, hide |
| 25 | j | j, g, ge, dge | jet, age, cage, budge, judge |
| 26 | k | c, k, ck, ch, cc, que | school, reoccur, macaque, can, kite |
| 27 | l | l, ll | leg, lamb, well, bell, fell |
| 28 | m | m, mm, mb | mad, mat, stammer, hammer, womb |
| 29 | n | n, nn, kn, gn | winner, dinner, knee, knight, no |
| 30 | p | p, pp | pat, pie, pipe, apple, supper |
| 31 | r | r, rr, wr | roar, run, carry, write, marry |
| 32 | s | s, se, ss, c, ce, sc | sun, spouse, guess, cite, nice |
| 33 | t | t, tt, ed | top, tan, better, dropped, letter |
| 34 | v | v, ve | give, vent, vet, cave, positive |
| 35 | w | w | win, swam, wit, wet, wig |
| 36 | y | y, i | yes, yap, yarn, onion, yield |
| 37 | z | z, zz, ze, s, se, x | buzz, breeze, zip, xerox, please, phase |
| 38 | th (unvoiced) | th | thorn, thin, thousand, thumb, thief |
| 39 | th (voiced) | th | that, then, the, they, their |
| 40 | ng | ng, n | ring, wing, bring, donkey, wink |
| 41 | sh | sh, ss, ch, ti, ci | shin, fission, chef, tie, special |
| 42 | ch | ch, tch | chip, chit, chin, switch, witch |
| 43 | zh | ge, s | marriage, pleasure, measure, division, garage |
| 44 | wh | wh | why, what, when, where |
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