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English Letters and Sounds

By February 5, 2026English
English Letters and Sounds

Decoding English:
Why Letters & Sounds Don’t Always Match

English uses 26 letters to create over 40 distinct sounds. Master the rules of silent letters, hidden sounds, and tricky spellings.

Phonetics Cards

Vocal Units (Vowels)

A, E, I, O, U — and occasionally Y. The engines of syllable formation.

Structural Units

Consonants define the structural boundaries of the acoustic signal.

Decoding English: Letters vs. Sounds

The Basics

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U (and sometimes Y). All other letters are consonants.

Crucial Rule: There are more than 40 vowel and consonant sounds in English, meaning we often have to combine letters to make a single sound.

Letters vs. Sounds

In simple words, the number of letters matches the number of sounds.

best — 4 letters, 4 sounds

b 1
e 2
s 3
t 4

lamp — 4 letters, 4 sounds

l 1
a 2
m 3
p 4

frog — 4 letters, 4 sounds

f 1
r 2
o 3
g 4

milk — 4 letters, 4 sounds

m 1
i 2
l 3
k 4

Fewer Sounds than Letters

Sometimes two or more letters combine to make just one sound.

green — 5 letters, 4 sounds

ee = /iː/
g 1
r 2
ee 3
n 4

happy — 5 letters, 4 sounds

pp = /p/
h 1
a 2
pp 3
y 4

bread — 5 letters, 4 sounds

ea = /ɛ/
b 1
r 2
ea 3
d 4

school — 6 letters, 4 sounds

sch = /sk/
s 1
ch 2
oo 3
l 4

Silent Letters

Some letters are written but have no sound at all.

listen — 6 letters, 5 sounds

t is silent
l 1
i 2
s 3
t -
e 4
n 5

knight — 6 letters, 3 sounds

k, gh are silent
k -
n 1
i 2
gh -
t 3

island — 6 letters, 5 sounds

s is silent
i 1
s -
l 2
a 3
n 4
d 5

honest — 6 letters, 5 sounds

h is silent
h -
o 1
n 2
e 3
s 4
t 5

One Letter, Two Sounds

The letter X is special. It often represents two sounds: /k/ + /s/ or /g/ + /z/.

six — 3 letters, 4 sounds

x = /k/ + /s/
s 1
i 2
x 3,4

extra — 5 letters, 6 sounds

x = /k/ + /s/
e 1
x 2,3
t 4
r 5
a 6

exam — 4 letters, 5 sounds

x = /g/ + /z/
e 1
x 2,3
a 4
m 5

Same Sound, Different Spellings

One distinct sound can be written in many different ways.

/iː/ Sound Long E
green team people key ski
/f/ Sound F Sound
phone fan laugh elephant

Same Spelling, Different Sound

Also known as Heteronyms. Context changes the pronunciation.

read

Present: /riːd/
"I read daily."
Past: /rɛd/
"I read it yesterday."

lead

Verb: /liːd/
"To guide"
Noun: /lɛd/
"The metal"

wind

Noun: /wɪnd/
"Moving air"
Verb: /waɪnd/
"Turn or twist"

Same Sound, Different Spelling

Also known as Homophones. They sound identical.

  • know | no
  • to | two | too
  • flower | flour
  • knight | night

Example Dialogue:

A: Do you know?

B: No, I don't.