Look up British and American IPA phonetics for any English word. Click to hear native pronunciation. Supports fuzzy search and IPA symbol reference.
No dependencies · Works offline| Symbol | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| /iː/ | see, tea, key | Long vowel, like "ee" |
| /ɪ/ | sit, bit, fish | Short vowel, shorter than /iː/ |
| /ʊ/ | put, good, look | Short vowel, like short "oo" |
| /uː/ | food, blue, too | Long vowel, like "oo" |
| /e/ | bed, head, said | Short vowel, like "eh" |
| /æ/ | cat, bad, man | Open front vowel, mouth wide |
| /ʌ/ | cup, love, blood | Short vowel, like short "uh" |
| /ɑː/ | car, heart, far | Long open vowel |
| /ɒ/ | hot, lot, dog (UK) | Short rounded vowel (British) |
| /ɔː/ | door, law, bought | Long rounded vowel |
| /ə/ | about, the, banana | Schwa, most common vowel |
| /ɜː/ | bird, work, girl | Long central vowel |
| /eɪ/ | day, make, great | Diphthong |
| /aɪ/ | my, time, fly | Diphthong |
| /ɔɪ/ | boy, oil, choice | Diphthong |
| /aʊ/ | now, house, out | Diphthong |
| /əʊ/ | go, home, know (UK) | Diphthong, US: /oʊ/ |
| /ɪə/ | here, near, idea | Diphthong |
| /eə/ | hair, care, there | Diphthong |
| /ʊə/ | pure, tour, sure | Diphthong |
| Symbol | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| /p/ | pen, cup, stop | Voiceless bilabial plosive |
| /b/ | bed, job, cab | Voiced bilabial plosive |
| /t/ | tea, cat, stop | Voiceless alveolar plosive |
| /d/ | day, red, bad | Voiced alveolar plosive |
| /k/ | key, back, school | Voiceless velar plosive |
| /ɡ/ | go, big, dog | Voiced velar plosive |
| /f/ | fish, off, phone | Voiceless labiodental fricative |
| /v/ | very, love, of | Voiced labiodental fricative |
| /θ/ | think, both, teeth | Voiceless dental fricative |
| /ð/ | this, other, weather | Voiced dental fricative |
| /s/ | see, bus, city | Voiceless alveolar fricative |
| /z/ | zoo, is, easy | Voiced alveolar fricative |
| /ʃ/ | she, fish, nation | Voiceless postalveolar fricative |
| /ʒ/ | vision, pleasure, usual | Voiced postalveolar fricative |
| /h/ | hat, hello, who | Voiceless glottal fricative |
| /tʃ/ | chair, watch, nature | Voiceless postalveolar affricate |
| /dʒ/ | job, bridge, judge | Voiced postalveolar affricate |
| /m/ | man, name, some | Voiced bilabial nasal |
| /n/ | no, sun, know | Voiced alveolar nasal |
| /ŋ/ | sing, ring, think | Voiced velar nasal |
| /l/ | let, feel, will | Voiced alveolar lateral |
| /r/ | red, run, write | Voiced alveolar approximant |
| /w/ | we, win, one | Voiced labial-velar approximant |
| /j/ | yes, you, use | Voiced palatal approximant |
The main system is IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). This tool shows both British (RP - Received Pronunciation) and American (GA - General American) IPA phonetics for easy comparison.
1) Learn the pronunciation rules for each symbol (e.g. /θ/ is a dental sound); 2) Pay attention to stress marks (ˈ indicates primary stress); 3) Listen to standard pronunciations and imitate; 4) Use this tool's audio playback to practice repeatedly. The key is practice — just reading phonetics is not enough.
Main reasons: 1) British vs American differences (e.g. 'bath' UK /bɑːθ/ vs US /bæθ/); 2) Part of speech changes stress (e.g. 'record' noun /ˈrekɔːd/ vs verb /rɪˈkɔːd/); 3) Regional dialect variations; 4) Connected speech changes (linking, weak forms).
Phonics teaches children to guess pronunciation from letter patterns — rule-based but with many exceptions (e.g. 'tough'/'through'/'though' look similar but sound different). Phonetics is a precise symbol system where one symbol always represents one sound. Learning phonetics is the foundation for mastering English pronunciation.