English orthography

English orthography is the writing system used to represent spoken English, allowing readers to connect the graphemes to sound and to meaning. It includes English's norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.

Like the orthography of most world languages, English orthography has a broad degree of standardisation. This standardisation began to develop when movable type spread to England in the late 15th century. However, unlike with most languages, there are multiple ways to spell every phoneme, and most letters also represent multiple pronunciations depending on their position in a word and the context.

This is partly due to the large number of words that have been borrowed from a large number of other languages throughout the history of English, without successful attempts at complete spelling reforms, and partly due to accidents of history, such as some of the earliest mass-produced English publications being typeset by highly trained, multilingual printing compositors, who occasionally used a spelling pattern more typical for another language. For example, the word ghost was spelled gost in Middle English, until the Flemish spelling pattern was unintentionally substituted, and happened to be accepted. Most of the spelling conventions in Modern English were derived from the phonemic spelling of a variety of Middle English, and generally do not reflect the sound changes that have occurred since the late 15th century (such as the Great Vowel Shift). As a result of this, many words are spelled the way that they were pronounced more than 600 years ago, instead of being spelled like they are pronounced in the 21st century.

Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most recognised variations being British and American spelling, and its overall uniformity helps facilitate international communication. On the other hand, it also adds to the discrepancy between the way English is written and spoken in any given location.

Function of the letters

Note: In the following discussion, only one or two common pronunciations of American and British English varieties are shown for each word cited. For many words, there are also other regional or alternative pronunciations, but indicating all possible variants in the article is impractical.

Phonemic representation

Further information: Phonemic orthography

Letters in English orthography usually represent a particular phoneme. For example, at /ˈæt/ consists of 2 letters ⟨a⟩ and ⟨t⟩, which represent /æ/ and /t/, respectively.

Sequences of letters may perform this role as well as single letters. Thus, in thrash /θræʃ/, the digraph ⟨th⟩ (two letters) represents /θ/. In hatch /hætʃ/, the trigraph ⟨tch⟩ represents /tʃ/.

Less commonly, a single letter can represent multiple successive sounds. The most common example is ⟨x⟩, which normally represents the consonant cluster /ks/ (for example, in tax /tæks/).

The same letter (or sequence of letters) may be pronounced differently when occurring in different positions within a word. For instance, ⟨gh⟩ represents /f/ at the end of some words (tough /tʌf/) but not in others (plough /plaʊ/). At the beginning of syllables, ⟨gh⟩ is pronounced /ɡ/, as in ghost /ɡoʊst/. Conversely, ⟨gh⟩ is never pronounced /f/ in syllable onsets other than in inflected forms, and is almost never pronounced /ɡ/ in syllable codas (the proper name Pittsburgh is an exception).

Some words contain silent letters, which do not represent any sound in modern English pronunciation. Examples include the ⟨l⟩ in talk, half, calf, etc., the ⟨w⟩ in two and sword, ⟨gh⟩ as mentioned above in numerous words such as though, daughter, night, brought, and the commonly encountered silent ⟨e⟩ (discussed further below).

Word origin

See also: Hard and soft C, Hard and soft G, Silent k, and Palatalization (phonetics)

Another type of spelling characteristic is related to word origin. For example, when representing a vowel, ⟨y⟩ represents the sound /ɪ/ in some words borrowed from Greek (reflecting an original upsilon), whereas the letter usually representing this sound in non-Greek words is the letter ⟨i⟩. Thus, myth /ˈmɪθ/ is of Greek origin, while pith /ˈpɪθ/ is a Germanic word. However, a large number of Germanic words have ⟨y⟩ in word-final position.

Some other examples are ⟨ph⟩ pronounced /f/ (which is most commonly ⟨f⟩), and ⟨ch⟩ pronounced /k/ (which is most commonly ⟨c⟩ or ⟨k⟩). The use of these spellings for these sounds often marks words that have been borrowed from Greek.

Some researchers, such as Brengelman (1970), have suggested that, in addition to this marking of word origin, these spellings indicate a more formal level of style or register in a given text, although Rollings (2004) finds this point to be exaggerated as there would be many exceptions where a word with one of these spellings, such as ⟨ph⟩ for /f/ (like telephone), could occur in an informal text.

Homophone differentiation

Spelling may also be useful to distinguish between homophones (words with the same pronunciation but different meanings), although in most cases the reason for the difference is historical and was not introduced for the purpose of making a distinction.

For example, heir and air are pronounced identically in most dialects, but, in writing, they are distinguished from each other by their different spellings.

Another example is the pair of homophones pain and pane, where both are pronounced /peɪn/ but have two different spellings of the vowel /eɪ/. Often, this is because of the historical pronunciation of each word where, over time, two separate sounds became the same but the different spellings remained: pain used to be pronounced as /pain/, with a diphthong, and pane as /peːn/, but the diphthong /ai/ merged with the long vowel /eː/ in pane, making pain and pane homophones (pane–pain merger). Later /eː/ became a diphthong /eɪ/.

In written language, this may help to resolve potential ambiguities that would arise otherwise (cf. He's breaking the car vs. He's braking the car).

Nevertheless, many homophones remain that are unresolved by spelling (for example, the word bay has at least five fundamentally different meanings).

Marking sound changes in other letters

See also: Silent e and Double letter

Some letters in English provide information about the pronunciation of other letters in the word. Rollings (2004) uses the term "markers" for such letters. Letters may mark different types of information.

For instance, ⟨e⟩ in once /ˈwʌns/ indicates that the preceding ⟨c⟩ is pronounced /s/, rather than the more common value of ⟨c⟩ in word-final position as the sound /k/, such as in attic /ˈætɪk/.

⟨e⟩ also often marks an altered pronunciation of a preceding vowel. In the pair mat and mate, the ⟨a⟩ of mat has the value /æ/, whereas the ⟨a⟩ of mate is marked by the ⟨e⟩ as having the value /eɪ/. In this context, the ⟨e⟩ is not pronounced, and is referred to as a "silent e".

A single letter may even fill multiple pronunciation-marking roles simultaneously. For example, in the word ace, ⟨e⟩ marks not only the change of ⟨a⟩ from /æ/ to /eɪ/, but also of ⟨c⟩ from /k/ to /s/. In the word vague, ⟨e⟩ marks the long ⟨a⟩ sound, but ⟨u⟩ keeps the ⟨g⟩ hard rather than soft.

Doubled consonants usually indicate that the preceding vowel is pronounced short. For example, the doubled ⟨t⟩ in batted indicates that the ⟨a⟩ is pronounced /æ/, while the single ⟨t⟩ of bated gives /eɪ/. Doubled consonants only indicate any lengthening or gemination of the consonant sound itself when they come from different morphemes, as with the ⟨nn⟩ in unnamed (un+named).

Multiple functionality

Any given letters may have dual functions. For example, ⟨u⟩ in statue has a sound-representing function (representing the sound /u/) and a pronunciation-marking function (marking the ⟨t⟩ as having the value /tʃ/ opposed to the value /t/).

Underlying representation

Like many other alphabetic orthographies, English spelling does not represent non-contrastive phonetic sounds (that is, minor differences in pronunciation which are not used to distinguish between different words).

Although the letter ⟨t⟩ is pronounced by most speakers with aspiration [tʰ] at the beginning of words, this is never indicated in the spelling, and, indeed, this phonetic detail is probably not noticeable to the average native speaker not trained in phonetics.

However, unlike some orthographies, English orthography often represents a very abstract underlying representation (or morphophonemic form) of English words.

[T]he postulated underlying forms are systematically related to the conventional orthography ... and are, as is well known, related to the underlying forms of a much earlier historical stage of the language. There has, in other words, been little change in lexical representation since Middle English, and, consequently, we would expect ... that lexical representation would differ very little from dialect to dialect in Modern English ... [and] that conventional orthography is probably fairly close to optimal for all modern English dialects, as well as for the attested dialects of the past several hundred years.

In these cases, a given morpheme (i.e., a component of a word) has a fixed spelling even though it is pronounced differently in different words. An example is the past tense suffix -⟨ed⟩, which may be pronounced variously as /t/, /d/, or /ᵻd/ (for example, pay /ˈpeɪ/, payed /ˈpeɪd/, hate /ˈheɪt/, hated /ˈheɪtɪd/). As it happens, these different pronunciations of -⟨ed⟩ can be predicted by a few phonological rules, but that is not the reason why its spelling is fixed.

Another example involves the vowel differences (with accompanying stress pattern changes) in several related words. For instance, photographer is derived from photograph by adding the derivational suffix -⟨er⟩. When this suffix is added, the vowel pronunciations change largely owing to the moveable stress:

Spelling	Pronunciation
photograph	/ˈfoʊtəɡræf/ or /ˈfoʊtəɡrɑːf/
photographer	/fəˈtɒɡrəfər/
photographical	/ˌfoʊtəˈɡræfɪkəl/

Other examples of this type are the -⟨ity⟩ suffix (as in agile vs. agility, acid vs. acidity, divine vs. divinity, sane vs. sanity). See also: Trisyllabic laxing.

Another example includes words like mean /ˈmiːn/ and meant /ˈmɛnt/, where ⟨ea⟩ is pronounced differently in the two related words. Thus, again, the orthography uses only a single spelling that corresponds to the single morphemic form rather than to the surface phonological form.

English orthography does not always provide an underlying representation; sometimes it provides an intermediate representation between the underlying form and the surface pronunciation. This is the case with the spelling of the regular plural morpheme, which is written as either -⟨s⟩ (as in tat, tats and hat, hats) or -⟨es⟩ (as in glass, glasses). Here, the spelling -⟨s⟩ is pronounced either /s/ or /z/ (depending on the environment, e.g., tats /ˈtæts/ and tails /ˈteɪlz/) while -⟨es⟩ is usually pronounced /ᵻz/ (e.g. classes /ˈklæsᵻz/). Thus, there are two different spellings that correspond to the single underlying representation |z| of the plural suffix and the three surface forms. The spelling indicates the insertion of /ᵻ/ before the /z/ in the spelling -⟨es⟩, but does not indicate the devoiced /s/ distinctly from the unaffected /z/ in the spelling -⟨s⟩.

The abstract representation of words as indicated by the orthography can be considered advantageous since it makes etymological relationships more apparent to English readers. This makes writing English more complex, but arguably makes reading English more efficient. However, very abstract underlying representations, such as that of Chomsky & Halle (1968) or of underspecification theories, are sometimes considered too abstract to accurately reflect the communicative competence of native speakers. Followers of these arguments believe the less abstract surface forms are more "psychologically real" and thus more useful in terms of pedagogy.

Diacritics

Main article: English terms with diacritical marks

See also: British and American keyboards and keyboard layouts

English has some words that can be written with accents. These words are mostly loanwords, usually from French. As they become increasingly naturalised, there is an increasing tendency to omit the accent marks, even in formal writing. For example, rôle and hôtel originally had accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accents are almost never used. The words were originally considered foreign—and some people considered that English alternatives were preferable—but today their foreign origin is largely forgotten. Words most likely to retain the accent are those atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café and pâté both have a pronounced final ⟨e⟩, which would otherwise be silent under the normal English pronunciation rules. However, pâté, the acute accent is helpful to distinguish it from pate.

Further examples of words sometimes retaining diacritics when used in English are: ångström (partly because the scientific symbol for this unit of measurement is "Å"), appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, Brötchen, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, jalapeño, naïve, naïveté, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, résumé, risqué, and voilà. Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, vis-à-vis, and belles-lettres.

It was formerly common in American English to use a diaeresis to indicate a hiatus, e.g. coöperate, daïs, and reëlect. The New Yorker and Technology Review magazines still use it for this purpose, even though it is increasingly rare in modern English. Nowadays, the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a hyphen is used (co-operate) if the hiatus is between two morphemes in a compound word. It is, however, still common in monomorphemic loanwords such as naïve and Noël.

Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the metre of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the -ed suffix, to indicate that the ⟨e⟩ should be fully pronounced, as with cursèd.

The acute and grave accents are occasionally used in poetry and lyrics: the acute to indicate stress overtly where it might be ambiguous (rébel vs. rebél) or nonstandard for metrical reasons (caléndar); the grave to indicate that an ordinarily silent or elided syllable is pronounced (warnèd, parlìament).

Ligatures

See also: American and British English spelling differences § ae and oe

In certain older texts (typically British), the use of the ligatures ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨œ⟩ is common in words such as archæology, diarrhœa, and encyclopædia, all of Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced by the digraphs ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (encyclopaedia, diarrhoea) in British English or just ⟨e⟩ (encyclopedia, diarrhea) in American English, though both spell some words with only ⟨e⟩ (economy, ecology) and others with ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ (paean, amoeba, oedipal, Caesar). In some cases, usage may vary; for instance, both encyclopedia and encyclopaedia are current in the UK.

Phonic irregularities

See also: English spelling reform

Partly because English has never had any official regulating authority for spelling, such as the Spanish Real Academia Española, the French Académie française, and the German Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung, English spelling, compared to many other languages, is quite irregular and complex. Although French, among other languages, presents a similar degree of difficulty when encoding (writing), English is more difficult when decoding (reading), as there are clearly many more possible pronunciations of a group of letters. For example, in French, /u/ (as in "true", but short), can be spelled ⟨ou, ous, out, oux ⟩ (ou, nous, tout, choux), but the pronunciation of each of those sequences is always the same. In English, /uː/ can be spelled in up to 24 different ways, including ⟨oo, u, ui, ue, o, oe, ou, ough, ew⟩ (spook, truth, suit, blues, to, shoe, group, through, few) (see Sound-to-spelling correspondences below), but all of these have other pronunciations as well (e.g., as in foot, us, build, bluest, so, toe, grout, plough, sew) (See the Spelling-to-sound correspondences below). Thus, in unfamiliar words and proper nouns, the pronunciation of some sequences, ⟨ough⟩ being the prime example, is unpredictable to even educated native English speakers.

Spelling irregularities

Attempts to regularise or reform the spelling of English have usually failed. However, Noah Webster popularised more phonetic spellings in the United States, such as flavor for British flavour, fiber for fibre, defense for defence, analyze for analyse, catalog for catalogue, and so forth. These spellings already existed as alternatives, but Webster's dictionaries helped standardise them in the US. (See American and British English spelling differences for details.)

Besides the quirks the English spelling system has inherited from its past, there are other irregularities in spelling that make it tricky to learn. English contains, depending on dialect, 24–27 consonant phonemes and 13–20 vowels. However, there are only 26 letters in the modern English alphabet, so there is not a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. Many sounds are spelled using different letters or multiple letters, and for those words whose pronunciation is predictable from the spelling, the sounds denoted by the letters depend on the surrounding letters. For example, ⟨th⟩ represents two different sounds (the voiced and voiceless dental fricatives) (see Pronunciation of English th), and the voiceless alveolar sibilant can be represented by ⟨s⟩ or ⟨c⟩.

It is, however, not (solely) the shortage of letters which makes English spelling irregular. Its irregularities are caused mainly by the use of many different spellings for some of its sounds, such as /uː/, /iː/ and /oʊ/ (too, true, shoe, flew, through; sleeve, leave, even, seize, siege; stole, coal, bowl, roll, old, mould), and the use of identical sequences for spelling different sounds (over, oven, move).

Furthermore, English no longer makes any attempt to anglicise the spellings of loanwords, but preserves the foreign spellings, even when they do not follow English spelling conventions like the Polish ⟨cz⟩ in Czech (rather than *Check) or the Norwegian ⟨fj⟩ in fjord (although fiord was formerly the most common spelling). In early Middle English, until roughly 1400, most imports from French were respelled according to English rules (e.g. bataille–battle, bouton–button, but not double, or trouble). Instead of loans being respelled to conform to English spelling standards, sometimes the pronunciation changes as a result of pressure from the spelling, e.g. ski, adopted from Norwegian in the mid-18th century. It used to be pronounced /ʃiː/, similar to the Norwegian pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after the mid-20th century helped the /skiː/ pronunciation replace it.

There was also a period when the spelling of a small number of words was altered to make them conform to their perceived etymological origins. For example, ⟨b⟩ was added to debt (originally dette) to link it to the Latin debitum, and ⟨s⟩ in island to link it to Latin insula instead of its true origin, the Old English word īġland. ⟨p⟩ in ptarmigan has no etymological justification whatsoever, only seeking to show Greek origin despite being a Gaelic word.

The spelling of English continues to evolve. Many loanwords come from languages where the pronunciation of vowels corresponds to the way they were pronounced in Old English, which is similar to the Italian or Spanish pronunciation of the vowels, and is the value the vowel symbols ⟨a, e, i, o, u⟩ have in the International Phonetic Alphabet. As a result, there is a somewhat regular system of pronouncing "foreign" words in English, and some borrowed words have had their spelling changed to conform to this system. For example, Hindu used to be spelled Hindoo, and the name Maria used to be pronounced like the name Mariah, but was changed to conform to this system. This only further complicates the spelling, however. On the one hand, words that retained anglicised spellings may be misread in a hyperforeign way. On the other hand, words that are respelled in a 'foreign' way may be misread as if they are English words, e.g. Muslim was formerly spelled Mooslim because of its original pronunciation.

Commercial advertisers have also had an effect on English spelling. They introduced new or simplified spellings like lite instead of light, thru instead of through, and rucsac instead of rucksack. The spellings of personal names have also been a source of spelling innovations: diminutive versions of women's names that sound the same as men's names have been spelled differently: Nikki and Nicky, Toni and Tony, Jo and Joe. The differentiation in between names that are spelled differently but have the same phonetic sound may come from modernisation or different countries of origin. For example, Isabelle and Isabel sound the same but are spelled differently; these versions are from France and Spain respectively.

As an example of the irregular nature of English spelling, ⟨ou⟩ can be pronounced at least nine different ways: /aʊ/ in out, /oʊ/ in soul, /uː/ in soup, /ʌ/ in touch, /ʊ/ in could, /ɔː/ in four, /ɜː/ in journal, /ɒ/ in cough, and /ə/ in famous (See Spelling-to-sound correspondences). In the other direction, /iː/ can be spelled in at least 18~21 different ways: be (cede), ski (machine), bologna (GA), algae, quay, beach, bee, deceit, people, key, keyed, field (hygiene), amoeba, chamois (GA), dengue (GA), beguine, guyot, and ynambu (See Sound-to-spelling correspondences). (These examples assume a more-or-less standard non-regional British English accent. Other accents will vary.)

Sometimes everyday speakers of English change a counterintuitive pronunciation simply because it is counterintuitive. Changes like this are not usually seen as "standard", but can become standard if used enough. An example is the word miniscule, which still competes with its original spelling of minuscule, though this might also be because of analogy with the word mini.

History

Inconsistencies and irregularities in English pronunciation and spelling have gradually increased in number throughout the history of the English language. There are a number of contributing factors. First, gradual changes in pronunciation, such as the Great Vowel Shift, account for a tremendous number of irregularities. Second, relatively recent loan words generally carry their original spellings, which are often not phonetic in English. The Romanization of languages (e.g., Chinese) has further complicated this problem, for example when pronouncing Chinese proper names (of people or places).

The regular spelling system of Old English was swept away by the Norman Conquest, and English itself was supplanted in some spheres by Norman French for three centuries, eventually emerging with its spelling much influenced by French. English had also borrowed large numbers of words from French, and kept their French spellings. The spelling of Middle English is very irregular and inconsistent, with the same word being spelled in different ways, sometimes even in the same sentence. However, these were generally much better guides to the then-pronunciation than modern English spelling is.

For example, /ʌ/, normally written ⟨u⟩, is spelled with an ⟨o⟩ in one, some, love, etc., due to Norman spelling conventions which prohibited writing ⟨u⟩ before ⟨m, n, v⟩ due to the graphical confusion that would result. (⟨n, u, v⟩ were written identically with two minims in Norman handwriting; ⟨w⟩ was written as two ⟨u⟩ letters; ⟨m⟩ was written with three minims, hence ⟨mm⟩ looked like ⟨vun, nvu, uvu⟩, etc.). Similarly, spelling conventions also prohibited final ⟨v⟩. Hence the identical spellings of the three different vowel sounds in love, move, and cove are due to ambiguity in the Middle English spelling system, not sound change.

In 1417, Henry V began using English, which had no standardised spelling, for official correspondence instead of Latin or French which had standardised spelling, e.g. Latin had one spelling for right (rectus), Old French as used in English law had six and Middle English had 77. This motivated writers to standardise English spelling, an effort which lasted about 500 years.

There was also a series of linguistic sound changes towards the end of this period, including the Great Vowel Shift, which resulted in the ⟨a⟩ in ate, for example, changing from a pure vowel to a diphthong. These changes for the most part did not detract from the rule-governed nature of the spelling system; but, in some cases, they introduced confusing inconsistencies, like the well-known example of the many pronunciations of ⟨ough⟩ (tough, through, though, cough, plough, etc.). Most of these changes happened before the arrival of printing in England. However, the arrival of the modern printing press in 1476 froze the current system, rather than providing the impetus for a realignment of spelling with pronunciation. Furthermore, it introduced further inconsistencies, partly because of the use of typesetters trained abroad, particularly in the Low Countries. For example, the ⟨h⟩ in ghost was influenced by Flemish. The addition and deletion of a silent e at the ends of words was also sometimes used to make the right-hand margin line up more neatly.

By the time dictionaries were introduced in the mid-17th century, the spelling system of English had started to stabilise. By the 19th century, most words had set spellings, though it took some time before they diffused throughout the English-speaking world. In The Mill on the Floss (1860), English novelist George Eliot satirised the attitude of the English rural gentry of the 1820s towards orthography:

Mr. Tulliver did not willingly write a letter, and found the relation between spoken and written language, briefly known as spelling, one of the most puzzling things in this puzzling world. Nevertheless, like all fervid writing, the task was done in less time than usual, and if the spelling differed from Mrs. Glegg's,–why, she belonged, like himself, to a generation with whom spelling was a matter of private judgment.

The modern English spelling system, with its national variants, spread together with the expansion of public education later in the 19th century.

"Ough" words

Main article: Ough (tetragraph)

The most notorious multigraph in the English language is the tetragraph ⟨ough⟩, which can be pronounced in at least ten different ways, six of which are illustrated in the construct, Though the tough cough and hiccough plough him through, which is quoted by Robert A. Heinlein in The Door into Summer to illustrate the difficulties facing automated speech transcription and reading. Ough itself is a word, an exclamation of disgust similar to ugh, though rarely known or used. The following are typical pronunciations of this string of letters:

• /oʊ/ (as in so) in though and dough
• /ʌf/ (as in cuff) in tough, rough, enough, and the name Hough
• /ɒf/ (as in off) in trough, cough, and Gough
• /uː/ (as in blue) for through
• /ɔː/ (as in saw) in thought, ought, sought, nought, brought, etc.
• /ə/ (as in comma) for thorough, borough, and names ending in -borough; however, American English pronounces this as /oʊ/
• /aʊ/ (as in how) in bough, sough, drought, plough (plow in North America), doughty, and the names Slough and Doughty

The following pronunciations are found in uncommon single words:

• hough: /ɒk/ (more commonly spelled "hock" now)
• hiccough (a now-uncommon variant of hiccup): /ʌp/ as in up (unique)
• lough: /ɒx/ with a velar fricative like the ⟨ch⟩ in loch, of which lough is an anglicised spelling

The place name Loughborough uses two different pronunciations of ⟨ough⟩: the first ⟨ough⟩ has the sound as in cuff and the second rhymes with thorough.

Spelling-to-sound correspondences

See also: Help:IPA/English

Notes:

• In the tables, the hyphen has two different meanings. A hyphen after the letter indicates that it must be at the beginning of a syllable, e.g., ⟨j⟩- in jumper and ajar. A hyphen before the letter indicates that it cannot be at the beginning of a word, e.g., -⟨ck⟩ in sick and ticket.
• More specific rules take precedence over more general ones, e.g., "⟨c⟩- before ⟨e, i, y⟩" takes precedence over "⟨c⟩".
• Where the letter combination is described as "word-final", inflectional suffixes may be added without changing the pronunciation, e.g., catalogues.
• The dialect used is RP. Several entries are indicated as specifically being GA.
• Isolated foreign borrowings are excluded.

Vowels

In a generative approach to English spelling, Rollings (2004) identifies twenty main orthographic vowels of stressed syllables that are grouped into four main categories: "Lax", "Tense", "Heavy", "Tense-R".

Letter	Lax		Tense		Heavy		Tense-R
	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example
a	/æ/	man	/eɪ/	mane	/ɑːr/	mar	/ɛər/	mare
e	/ɛ/	met	/iː/	mete	/ɜːr/	her	/ɪər/	here
i	/ɪ/	win	/aɪ/	wine	/ɜːr/	fir	/aɪər/	fire
o	/ɒ/	mop	/oʊ/	mope	/ɔːr/	for	/ɔːr/	fore
u	/ʌ/	hug	/juː/	huge	/ɜːr/	cur	/jʊər/	cure
	/ʊ/	push	/uː/	rude			/ʊər/	sure

Digraph	Lax		Tense		Heavy		Tense-R
	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example	IPA	example
ai, ay	–		/eɪ/	bait	-		/ɛər/	air
				essay				Ayr
au, aw	–		/ɔː/	audio	–		/ɔːr/	aura
				draw				rawr
ea	/ɛ/	dreamt	/iː/	dream	/ɜːr/	learn	/ɪər/	hear
ee	–		/iː/	see	-		/ɪər/	beer
eu, ew	–		/juː/	feudal	–		/jʊ(ə)r/	neurotic
				few				Newry
oa	–		/oʊ/	boat	/ɔːr/	coarse	/ɔːr/	soar
oo	/ʊ/	foot	/uː/	goose	-		/ʊər/	poor
ou, ow	/ʌ/	southern	/aʊ/	south	/ɜːr/	scourge	/aʊər/	hour
	–			now	–			dowry
	–		/oʊ/	soul	–		/ɔːr/	four
	/ɒ/	knowledge		know				–
oi, oy	–		/ɔɪ/	point	–		/ɔɪər/	coir
				boy				Moyra

For instance, ⟨a⟩ can represent the lax vowel /æ/, tense /eɪ/, heavy /ɑː/, or tense-r /ɛə/. Heavy and tense-r vowels are the respective lax and tense counterparts followed by ⟨r⟩.

Tense vowels are distinguished from lax vowels with a "silent" ⟨e⟩ that is added at the end of words. Thus, ⟨a⟩ in hat is lax /æ/, but when ⟨e⟩ is added in the word hate ⟨a⟩ is tense /eɪ/. Heavy and tense-r vowels follow a similar pattern, e.g. ⟨ar⟩ in car is heavy /ɑːr/, ⟨ar⟩ followed by silent ⟨e⟩ in care is /ɛər/. ⟨u⟩ represents two different vowel patterns, one being /ʌ/, /juː/, /ɜː/, /jʊə/, the other /ʊ/, /uː/, /ʊə/. There is no distinction between heavy and tense-r ⟨o⟩, and ⟨u⟩ in the /ʊ/, /uː/, /ʊə/ pattern does not have a heavy vowel.

Besides silent ⟨e⟩, another strategy for indicating tense and tense-r vowels is the addition of another orthographic vowel forming a digraph. In this case, the first vowel is usually the main vowel while the second vowel is the "marking" vowel. For example, man has a lax ⟨a⟩ (/æ/), but the addition of ⟨i⟩ (as the digraph ⟨ai⟩) in main marks the ⟨a⟩ as tense (/eɪ/). These two strategies produce words that are spelled differently but pronounced identically, which helps differentiate words that would otherwise be homonyms, as in mane (silent ⟨e⟩ strategy), main (digraph strategy) and Maine (both strategies).

Besides the 20 basic vowel spellings, Rollings (2004) has a reduced vowel category (representing the sounds /ə, ɪ/) and a miscellaneous category (representing the sounds /ɔɪ, aʊ, aɪ/ and /j/+V, /w/+V, V+V).

Combinations of vowel letters

To reduce dialectal difficulties, the sound values given here correspond to the conventions at Help:IPA/English. This table includes ⟨h, w, y⟩ when they represent vowel sounds. If no information is given, it is assumed that the vowel is in a stressed syllable.

Deriving the pronunciation of an English word from its spelling requires not only a careful knowledge of the rules given below (many of which are not explicitly known even by native speakers: speakers merely learn the spelling of a word along with its pronunciation) and their many exceptions, but also:

• a knowledge of which syllables are stressed and which are unstressed (not derivable from the spelling: compare hallow and allow)
• which combinations of vowels represent monosyllables and which represent disyllables (ditto: compare waive and naive, creature and creator)

Spelling		Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
a	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word	/æ/	hatchet, banner, tally acrobat, cat	/eɪ/	ancient, chamber, pastry, bass	/ɒ/ yacht, restaurant /ɛ/ catch (GA) /ʌ/ apsaras ∅ forecastle
				/ɑː/	RP: aft, ask, dance, past
	followed by 2 or more unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ, ə/	/æ/	national, camera, reality acid, granite, palace	/eɪ/	nationhood, scathingly basis, aphasic	∅ sarsaparilla
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons. open syllables	/ɑː/	bar, cart barred, marring			/ɛə/ scarce /æ/ sarsaparilla (GA) /ɜː/ dharna
	in open syllables or before cons. + ⟨e⟩ before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩+vowel) before heterosyllabic vowel	/eɪ/	ache, gave, opaque, savor, status table, hatred, April chaos, aorta, mosaic	/æ/	have, plaque, manor, statue macle, sacrifice, theatrical	/ɛ/ many, any, ate (RP) /aɪ/ naive (also with /ɑː/) /ʌ/ sati
				/ɑː/	debacle gala, lava, slalom, sonata
	before final -⟨nge, ste⟩	/eɪ/	range, exchange, haste	/æ/	flange, caste (GA)
				/ɑː/	melange
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel open syllables	/ɛə/	area, care, garish, antiquarian, square, wariness	/æ/ /ɑː/	arid, parish, mariners, caraway aria, are, safaris, faraway	/ɔː/ quarantine (GA) /ɒ/ waratah /ʌ/ bharal
	word-final (stressed)	/ɑː/	bra, cha-cha, schwa, spa
	after /w/ except before /k, g, ŋ/ closed syllables	/ɒ/ (/ɑː/)	want, watch, swamp, swastika, wallet	/ɒ/ (/ɔː/) /ɔː/ /eɪ/	wasp wall, walnut, waltz wastage	/ɑː/ qualm (also with /ɔː/), suave, swami /æ/ swam, aquatic (RP) /ʌ/ was (GA), what (GA)
	after /w/ before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons. closed syllables	/ɔː/	war, award, dwarf, warning, quarter, warring
	after /w/ except before /k, g, ŋ/ open syllables	/eɪ/	persuade, swathe	/ɒ/ (/ɑː/)/ɒ/ (/ɔː/) /ɔː/	quality, squash, wapiti wash, quarantine water
	unstressed	/ə/	about, an, salary, woman, blancmange, opera, via	/ə/ to ∅ /eɪ/	artistically, ordinary, necessary probate, folate, kinase	/i/ karaoke, bologna (GA) /ɑː/ retard (n), canard (RP) /æ/ Assam /ʌ/ chaprassi
	unstressed, in -⟨ace, age, ase, ate⟩ (except verbs)	/ɪ, ə/	palace, damage, forage, garbage, pirate, private	/ɑː/ /ɪ/	RP: garage, barrage chocolate, purchase, solace	/eɪ/ rampage, primate
aa, ah		/ɑː/	baa, aardvark, blah	/æ/ (/ɛə/) /ə/	Aaron Isaac, bar mitzvah	/eɪ/ Quaalude
ae	usually	/iː/	encyclopaedia, paediatrician	/ɛ/	aesthetic	/eɪ/ reggae, sundae, Gael /aɪ/ maestro /æ/ Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic) /ə/ Michael, polkaed
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɛə/	aerial, aeroplane	/ɪə/	chimaera	/ə/ anaerobe
ai	stressed	/eɪ/	daisy, laid, paisley, regain, waif	/aɪ/ /ɛ/ /eɪɪ/	aisle, bonsai, daimon, krait said, again, against dais, laic, mosaic, papain	/æ/ plaid, plaited, daiquiri /aɪiː/ naif, caique /i, ɪ/ archaism
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɛə/	cairn, millionaire, dairy			/aɪ/ hetaira, zaire
	unstressed	/ɪ, ə/	bargain, mountain, portrait	/ə/	certain, coxswain, spritsail
ao		/aʊ/	manoao, miaow, Maoism, cacao (GA)	/eɪ/ /eɪɒ/ /eɪˈɔː/ /eɪə/ /ɔː/ /iˈoʊ/ /ɑːoʊ/	gaol kaon, chaos aorta aorist, kaolin extraordinary karaoke baobab
au		/ɔː/	aura, cause, fraud, slaughter	/ɒ/ /ɑː/ (/æ/) /aʊ/ /oʊ/	because (RP), laurel (RP), leprechaun (GA) aunt, draught, laughter degauss, graupel, trauma (GA) chauffeur, gauche, mauve	/eɪ/ gauge /aʊə/ gaur /ʌ/ because (GA) /ə/ aurora, meerschaum ∅ restaurant
aw		/ɔː/	awed, flaw, hawk, tawny			/aʊ/ Mawlid
ay		/eɪ/	bayonet, essays, grayer, hayride	/aɪ/ /ɛ/	aye, bayou, kayak, papaya mayor, prayer, says	/iː/ cay, quay, parlay /əj/ gayal
e	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word	/ɛ/	petty, lethargy, merry, treble get, watershed	/iː/	axes (plural of axis)	/ɪ/ pretty, English /ɒ/ ennui, entourage, genre /eɪ/ eh /ʌ/ feng shui
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ/	/ɛ/	legacy, elegant, delicate metric, crevice, epic	/iː/	lethal, reflex, Stephen feces legally, devious, premium evil, scenic, strategic
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + other cons.	/ɜː/	her, coerced, jerk, merchant erring, preferred	/ɛə/	berceuse	/ɑː/ clerk, sergeant
				/ɛ/	error
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons + ⟨r⟩ + vowel final, only vowel in word before heterosyllabic vowel	/iː/	even, demon, fetal, recombine metre, secret, egret, secretion be, she museum, neon, theater (GA)	/ɛ/	ever, lemon, petal, recollect petrol, debris (RP), discretion	/eɪ/ crepe, suede, ukulele
				/eɪ/	abbe, cafe (GA), saute seance, rodeo, deity  (RP)	/ɛ/ yeah (GA)
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel	/ɪə/	here, series, reremice, stereo	/ɛə/ /ɛ/ /iː/	compere, there, werewolf derelict, heresy, perish, very derail, reremind	/ɜː/ were, weregild
	unstressed	/ɪ, ə/	market, ticket, honest, college, boxes, perfect, express, believe	/ə/	taken, decency, moment	/ɛ/ contest, alphabet, princess
	ibid., word-final	∅	discipline, recites, smile, limitrophe	/iː/	recipes, simile, apostrophe, deled	/eɪ/ latte, mores, protege
	ibid., before heterosyllabic vowel	/i/	create, area, atheism, video	/eɪ/	fideism, realpolitik
ea	in closed syllables before multiple consonants	/ɛ/	dreamt, cleanse	/iə/	realty, fealty	/ɔː/ ealderman, /æ/ poleax, /eɪɑː/ seance
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons.	/ɜː/	pearly, hearse, yearning, earth	/ɪə/ /ɑː/ /ɛə/ /iːə/	dearly, hears, yearling, tear hearken, hearty, hearth tear, bears linear, nuclear	/ɪ/ beard, peart /eɪə/ bearnaise, /i'ɑː/ rearm
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons + ⟨r⟩ + vowel final, only vowel in word before heterosyllabic vowel	/iː/	read (infinitive), leaf, zeal, dreams, cleans	/ɛ/ /eɪ/ /ə/ /iːə, ɪə/ /ɪə/ /iːə/ /iːeɪ/	read (past simple), deaf, zealot break, great, eagre, yea hydrangea, likeable, ocean ideal, real, cereal idea urea, laureate creating, protease, reagent	/ɑː/ orgeat /ɛə/ yeah /æ/ whereas /iːæ/ caveat /ɪ/ mileage /iːɪ/ lineage /iːæ/ beatify, reality /eɪˈɑː/ real
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel	/ɛə/	wearing	/iːə/	stearin	/iː/ tearoom
eau		/oʊ/	bureau, plateau, tableau	/juː/	beauty	/ɒ/ bureaucracy /ə/ bureaucrat
ee	usually	/iː/	bee, breech, feed, trainee	/ɪ/	breeches, been (GA)	/eɪ/ matinee, fiancees, nee /i/ bungee, coffee /iːə/ freest, weest /iːɛ/ reecho, /iːɪ/ reelect /ɛ/ threepence (also /ɪ/ or /ʌ/)
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɪə/	cheering, beer, eerie	/iːə/	freer, seers
eh		/eɪ/	eh, prehnite, tempeh	/ɛə/	yeh	/ɛ/ feh /ə/, keffiyeh
ei, ey	usually	/eɪ/	veil, weight, heinous, obey	/iː/ /aɪ/ /iːɪ/	caffeine, seize, key, geyser either, height, heist, heinie, eye albeit, being, cysteine, deist	/ɛ/ heifer, leisure, seigneur /æ/ reveille, serein /eɪ ɪ/ fideist, /iˈaɪ/ deice
	after ⟨c⟩	/iː/	deceive, ceiling, conceit			/æ/ ceinture, enceinte /eɪɪ/ glaceing, /iːɪ/ haecceity
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɛə/	heir, madeira, their	/ɪə/	weird, weir, eyrie	/aɪ/ oneiric, eirenic
	unstressed	/ɪ, ə/	foreign, counterfeit, forfeit	/ə/	mullein, villein	/ɪ/ ageist, herein, ogreish
	unstressed, word-final	/i/ /iː/	monkey, volley, curtsey, jersey			/eɪ/ survey (n)
eo	usually bisyllabic	/iːɒ/ /iːoʊ/ /iːə/	eon, geology, reoffer, teleost creole, geode, leonine, video galleon, leotard, peon, theory	/ɛ/ /iː/ /ə/	feoffee, jeopardy, leopard feoff, people luncheon, pigeon, embraceor	/oʊ/ yeoman, /ɛə/ ceorl /juː/ feodary, /uːi/ geoduck /eɪoʊ/ rodeo, teosinte /ɒ/ thereon /ʌ/ whereof /wʌ/ someone
eu, ew, ieu, iew	usually	/juː/	deuce, feudal, queue, dew, ewe, view	/ɜː/ /uː/ /iːə/	berceuse, danseuse leukemia, lewd, lieu (sic) museum, pileus	/oʊ/ sew, shew /ɛf/ lieutenant (RP), /jɜː/ milieu /iːuː/ reuse, /iːʌ/ reutters /ʌ/ pileup, ∅ fauteuil /ɔɪ/ Freudian
	after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons. + /l/	/uː/	rheumatism, sleuth, jewel, blew	/iːə/	nucleus
	before ⟨r⟩	/jʊə/	euro, liqueur, neural	/ɜː/	masseur, voyeur	/ʊə/ pleurisy, /iːɜː/ theurgy
	unstressed before ⟨r⟩	/ju(ə)/	eurhythmic, neurotic	/jə/ /ə/	aneurism, derailleur, grandeur amateur, chauffeur
i	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in worded	/ɪ/	dissent, mislaid, slither kiss, sic, bit, inflict, hint, plinth	/aɪ/	dissect, island, indict, pint, ninth	/æ/ meringue, timbre, absinthe (also /ɪ/) /iː/ artiste, chenille /iː/ skis, chic, ambergris
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ/ before cons. + ⟨e, i⟩ + vowel	/ɪ/	litany, liberal, chivalry, misery finish, limit, minute (n) hideous, position, Sirius	/aɪ/	blithely irony, libelous, rivalry, miserly whitish, writing shinier, tidied
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons. (and in derived terms)	/ɜː/	bird, fir, stirrer			/ɪə/ menhir /aɪə/ ritonavir (also with /ɪə/) /ə/ triumvir
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) before -⟨gh, gn⟩ word final before heterosyllabic vowel	/aɪ/	cited, dive, mica, rise, polite, shine idle, trifle, nitrous, mitres sighed, signage alumni, alibi, radii vial, quiet, prior, pious	/ɪ/	city, give, vicar, risen triple, citrus, giblets pighead, signal	/iː/ police, elite, machine /iː/ litres, in vitro /iː/ chignon, Monsignor
				/iː/	ski clientele, fiat, lien, skiing
	before -⟨nd, ld⟩	/aɪ/	wilder, remind	/ɪ/	bewilder, rescind
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel (except bef. 2+ unstressed syllables)	/aɪə/	pirate, mired, virus, iris, wiring	/ɪ/	mirage, virile, iridescent, spirit
	unstressed	/ɪ, ə/	divide, permit (n), livid, typical	/ə/	giraffe, pencil, cousin, Cheshire	∅ business /aɪ/ director, minute (adj) /aɪə/ sapphire
	usd, before heterosyllabic vowel	/j/	onion, minion	/aɪ/	biology, diameter	∅ parliament, lieu, nostalgia /i/ liaison, alien, radii, idiot
ie	finally	/aɪ/	belie, die, untie, vie	/i/	goalie, oldie, auntie, movie	/eɪ/ lingerie (GA), /ieɪ/ kyrie
	medially	/iː/	field, siege, rabies, skied	/aɪ/ /aɪə/ /iə/ to /jə/ /iˈɛ/	allied, pied, skies client, diet, science, sliest ambient, alien, oriel, ugliest orient (v), acquiesce	/ɪ/ sieve, mischief, kerchief /ɛ/ friend, hygienic (GA) /aɪˈɛ/ biennial /aɪiː/ diene /iːɒ/ clientele /iˈiː/ medieval /iːə/ lien
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɪə/	cashier, fierce, frontier, pier	/aɪə/ /iə/ to /jə/	shier, fiery, hierarchy, plier busier, rapier, glacier, hosiery	/iɛə/ concierge, premiere /iˈeɪ/ atelier, bustier, dossier /iːə/ skier
o	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word	/ɒ/	doctor, bother, donkey dot, bomb, wonk, font	/ʌ/ /oʊ/	won, monkey, front gross, comb, wonted, both	/uː/ tomb, womb /ʊ/ wolf /wʌ/ once /ɔː/ (GA) long, broth
	bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ/	/ɒ/	opera, colonise, botany topic, solid, promise	/oʊ/	brokenly, probity, diplomacy meiosis, aerobic
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) word-final before heterosyllabic vowel (inc. unstressed)	/oʊ/	omen, grove, total noble, cobra banjo, go boa, poet, stoic cooperate, proactive	/ɒ/ /uː/ /ʌ/ /ə/	proper, gone, shone (RP) to, who, move, doable come, love, done, colander purpose, Europe	/ʊ/ woman, bosom /ɪ/ women /wʌ/ one ∅ colonel, chocolate
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɔː/	ford, boring, more	/ɒ/	forest, borrow, moral	/ɜː/ whorl /ʌ/ borough /oʊ/ forecastle
	after ⟨w⟩, before ⟨r⟩	/ɜː/	word, work, worst	/ɔː/	worn, sword, swore	/ʌ/ worry
	unstressed	/ə/	eloquent, wanton, author			/ɒ/ neuron, proton /ɪ, ə/ hydrogen
oa	before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) word-final before heterosyllabic vowel (inc. unstressed)	/oʊ/	boat, coal, load, coaxing	/oʊə/ /oʊæ/ /oʊˈeɪ/	boa, inchoate coaxial, ogdoad oasis, cloaca	/ɔː/ broad /uːə/ doable /oʊˈɑː/ koala /wɑː/ quinoa
	before ⟨r⟩	/ɔː/	boar, coarse, keyboard, soaring			/ə/ cupboard, starboard /oʊˈɑː/ coarctate
oe	usually	/iː/	amoeba, coelacanth, foetal, phoenix	/oʊ/ /uː/ /oʊˈɛ/	doeskin, woeful shoelace, canoeing poetic, soever, orthoepic	/ɛ/ foetid, roentgen /oʊˈiː/ coeval, noesis /oʊˈɜː/ coerce /oʊə/ poetry, orthoepy
	final vowels	/oʊ/	foe, goes, toed, woe	/uː/ /oʊɛ/ /oʊə/ /oʊɪ, oʊə/	shoes, canoe coed, noel, phloem goer loess, poem	/ʌ/ does /uːə/ doeth, doer /ɜː/ foehn /oʊiː/ diploe, kalanchoe
	unstressed	/ɪ/	oedema, oesophagus	/oʊ/	aloe, echoed, oboes, soloed	/uː/ hoopoe
oeu		/uː/	manoeuvre			/ɜː(r)/ hors d'oeuvre
oh	final or before a consonant	/oʊ/	oh, kohlrabi, ohm, pharaoh	/ɒ/	demijohn, johnny	/ɔː/ bohrium /ə/ matzoh
oi	usually	/ɔɪ/	boing, moist, coin, envoi	/oʊɪ/ /wɑː/ /ə/	going, egoist, heroin, stoic bourgeois, coiffeur, patois connoisseur, porpoise, tortoise	/uːɪ/ doing /wæ/ croissant (RP) /i/ chamois /oʊaɪ/ ghettoise, oroide
	before ⟨r⟩	/wɑː/	reservoir, memoir, moire, soiree	/ɔɪə/	coir, loir	/waɪə/ choir /ə/ avoirdupois
oo	usually	/uː/	cool, sooth, boot, goosebumps	/ʊ/	wool, soot, foot, gooseberry	/oʊ/ brooch /oʊ ɒ/ coopt, zoology
	before ⟨k, d⟩	/ʊ/	cook, shook, wood, stood	/uː/	kook, spook, food, brood	/ʌ/ flood, blood
	before ⟨r⟩	/ʊə/	poor, moor, roorback	/oʊ, ɔː/	coordinate	/ɔː/ door, flooring /ə/ whippoorwill
ou	before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) before -⟨nd, ld, gh, gn⟩ word final before heterosyllabic vowel	/aʊ/	out, aloud, bough	/uː/ /ʌ/ /oʊ/	soup, you, through touch soul, dough	/juː/ (GA): ampoule, coupon
	before multiple consonants final vowel in word bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ/ before cons. + ⟨e, i⟩ + vowel	/ʊ/	could, should	/ʌ/ /oʊ/	trouble, country boulder	/ɒ/ cough, fount (printing)
	stressed before ⟨r⟩	/ɔː/	four, courtesan, discourse	/aʊə/ /ɜː/ /ʊ(ə)/	hour, flour, scours journey, courtesy, scourge tour, courier, gourd (RP), velour	/ʌ/ encourage, flourish
	unstressed	/ə/	camouflage, labour, nervous	/ʊ/ /ʊə/	bivouac, bedouin, potpourri detour, fourchette	/ʌ/ hiccough /w/ ratatouille, ouabaine
ow	stressed	/aʊ/	owl, bow, row, sow, allow	/oʊ/	own, bow, row, sow, alow	/ɒ/ acknowledge /ɒ/ or /ʌ/ rowlock
	before ⟨r⟩	/aʊə/	dowry, cowries	/oʊ/	cowrites, showroom
	unstressed	/oʊ/	yellow, teabowl, landowner	/aʊ/	peafowl, sundowner	/əw/ cassowary, toward (RP)
oy		/ɔɪ/	boy, doyenne, foyer, voyage	/waɪ/	voyeur, noyade	/oʊj/ oyez /aɪ/ coyote (GA) /i/ buoy (GA)
u	in closed syllables before multiple consonants final vowel in word	/ʌ/	budding, cuckold, mullet but, gull, fuss	/ʊ/	pudding, cuckoo, bullet, put, full, puss	/uː/ ruthless, brut /juː/ butte, debut, fuchsia, tulle
	above after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons. + /l/ before multiple consonants final vowel in word	/ʊ/	butch	/ʌ/	Dutch, runlet
	above after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons. + /l/ before a vowel before /ʃ/	/ʊ/	cushion, shush	/ʌ/	usher, hush
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons.	/ɜː/	turn, occur, curdle, burr furry, demurral, blurred, recurring	/ʌ/	RP: recurrent, occurrence	/ʊə/ langur
	in open syllables before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) before heterosyllabic vowel word-final	/juː/	mute, student, puny, union, fuses bugle, hubris, nutrient (RP) duo, nuance, pursuant, ensuing menu, emu, impromptu (RP)	/ʌ/ /uː/	study, punish, bunion, buses butler, cutlery, subrogate super, lunar, absolute, revolution suet, lucrative, lugubrious hindu, tutu, tofu, truth	/ɪ/ busy, business
	above after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons.+/l/ before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) before heterosyllabic vowel word-final	/uː/	rule, chute, June, recluses scruples, rubric truant, fluent, cruelty flu, guru	/juː/	overuse, underused	/ʌ/ pluses, runaway, truculent, clubroom, rumrunner
	after ⟨s⟩ pronounced /ʃ, ʒ/ in open syllables	/ʊ/	sugar
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel	/jʊ(ə)/	lure, purity, curing	/ʊ(ə)/	allure, guru, Silurian	/ɛ/ bury, burial
	before ⟨r⟩ above after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons.+/l/	/ʊ(ə)/	rural, jury, plural
	before ⟨r⟩ above after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, or cons.+/l/ after ⟨s⟩, in open syllables	/ʊ(ə), ɔː/	sure, assurance
	after ⟨g⟩, before ⟨e, i, y⟩	∅	guest, guide, vaguer	/w/	segue, distinguish	ambiguity
	after ⟨g⟩, before ⟨a, o⟩	/w/	language	∅	guard, languor	/juː/ jaguar (RP)
	after ⟨q⟩	/w/	quail, conquest, banquet, quite	∅	quay, conquer, bouquet, mosquito
	unstressed	/ə/	support, industry, useful, medium	/ju/ /ʌ/	debut guffaw, unruly, upend, vulgarity	/ɪ, ə/ minute, lettuce
	unstressed before ⟨r⟩	/jə/	accurate, failure, tenure	/u/	plurality
ue	after ⟨g⟩ word finally	∅	league, tongue	/juː/	ague	/eɪ/ merengue, /i/ dengue
	after g word medially	/ɛ/ /ə/	guest, guessed, baguette guerrilla, beleaguered	∅ /juː/	vaguely, intrigued argued	/weɪ/ segued, /wɛ/ guenon /wə/ unguent, /wiː/ ungues /juːə/ arguer /iː/ Portuguese
	after ⟨r⟩, or cons. + ⟨l⟩	/uː/	true, clue, gruesome, blues	/uːə/	influence, cruel, fluent, bluest	/uːɪ/ cruet, /uːɛ/ influential
	elsewhere (except after ⟨q⟩)	/juː/	virtue, cue, valued, hue, muesli	/juːə/ /juːɛ/ /uː/ /uːə/	fuel, constituent, rescuer innuendo, statuesque, minuet Sue, snafued (GA: due, revenue) GA: duel, pursuer	/uːɪ/ suet, /uːɛ/ muezzin /juːiː/ tenues, /juːeɪ/ habitue /jʊə/ puerile, /ʊ/ muenster /weɪ/ suede, Venezuelan /wɛ/ pueblo, /wɪ/ desuetude
ui	after ⟨g⟩	/ɪ/ /aɪ/	guild, guitar, intriguing, roguish guide, guise, beguile	/wɪ/	anguish, penguin, linguist, sanguine	/iː/ beguine, /wiː/ linguine /juːɪ/ arguing, aguish /juːə/ contiguity, /uːi/ GUI
	after ⟨j, r⟩ or cons. + ⟨l⟩	/uː/	juice, cruise, sluice, fruiting	/uːɪ/	fruition, fluid, ruin, druid, truism	/uːə/ incongruity, /uːj/ alleluia /ʊ/ Cruickshank
	elsewhere (except after ⟨q⟩)	/juːɪ/ /ɪ/	conduit, cuing, genuine, Buick, circuitous, Jesuit build, circuit, biscuit, pursuivant	/uː/ /juːə/ /juː/ /uːɪ/	suit, suitable, nuisance (GA) intuitive (RP), promiscuity nuisance (RP), puisne suicide, tui, Inuit, Hinduism	/aɪ/ duiker, /ə/ circuitry /wɪ/ cuisine, suint /wiː/ suite, ennui, tuille /uːaɪ/ sui generis /weɪ/ feng shui
uu		/juə/	continuum, residuum	/uə/	menstruum	/(j)uːʌ/ duumvir /juː/ vacuum (GA) /uː/ muumuu
uy		/aɪ/	buy, buyout, guyed	/iː/ /wi/	guyot, cliquy, plaguy obsequy, soliloquy	/jʊɪ/ toluyl /uːj/ thuya, gruyere /wiː/ puy /wiːj/ tuyere
w				/uː/	cwm
y	before multiple consonants bef. 2+ unstressed syllables next syllable contains /ɪ/	/ɪ/	myth, cryptic, system, symbol cylinder, typical, pyramid, dynasty cynic, lyric, lytic, syringe	/aɪ/	cyclone, hyphen, psyche, python hydrogen, dynasty (GA) cyclist, hybrid, psychic, typist
	before single consonant before cons + (-⟨le⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + vowel) word-final, stressed	/aɪ/	typing, style, paralyze, nylon cycle, cypress, hydrate, lycra awry, by, deny, sky, supply	/ɪ/	byzantine, synod, synagogue, Cypriote, sycophantic
	before final ⟨r⟩ or ⟨r⟩ + cons.	/ɜː/	myrtle, myrrh			/ɪ/ pyrrhic
	before ⟨r⟩ + vowel	/aɪə/	lyre, tyrant, gyrate	/ɪ/	syrup, Pyrenees
	unstressed	/ɪ/	bicycle, oxygen, polymer, dyslexia, physique, synonymous	/ə/ /aɪ/ /i/	sibyl, martyr, pyjamas dynamics, hypothesis, typhoon anyway, everything
	unstressed, word-final	/i/	any, city, happy, only, supply (adv)			/aɪ/ ally (n)

Consonants

See also: Digraph (orthography)

Spelling		Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Other values	Examples of other values
b, bb	usually	/b/	bit, ebb, limber, bombe, obtain, blood, bring	∅	combe, bdellium, debtor
	word finally after ⟨m⟩	∅	climber, numbing, bombed	/b/	iamb, nimb
c	before ⟨e, i, y, ae, oe⟩	/s/	cellar, city, cyst, face, prince, nicer caesium, coelacanth	/tʃ/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /k/ /ts/	cello, vermicelli special, liquorice coercion Celts, chicer, syncing letovicite
	initially before ⟨n, t⟩	∅	cnidarian, ctenoid
	elsewhere	/k/	cat, cross, predict, opuscule, picture	∅	blancmange, indict, muscle, victual
cc	before ⟨e, i, y⟩	/ks/	accept, eccentric, occidental	/k/ /tʃ/ /s/	soccer, recce, siccing bocce, breccia, cappuccino flaccid
	elsewhere	/k/	account, accrue, occur, yucca
ch	usually	/tʃ/	chase, chin, attached, chore	/k/ /ʃ/ /h/ /dʒ/ /x/ ∅	ached, anchor, leprechaun machete, pistachio, welch chutzpah (also with /x/) sandwich, Greenwich loch yacht, Crichton
	after ⟨n⟩	/(t)ʃ/	branch, truncheon, franchise, trenchant	/k/ /tʃ/ /ʃ/	inchoate, synchronise, elasmobranch enchant, enchilada, chinchilla penchant
	in words of Greek origin	/k/	chasm, chimera, chord, lichen	∅	drachm
	in words of French origin	/ʃ/	chaise, machine, cached, parachute	/k/ /tʃ/	chemist, choir, machination chassis (GA), cheque, chowder, niche (GA)
ck		/k/	tack, ticket
d, dd, dh		/d/	dive, ladder, jodhpurs	/t/ /dʒ/ /ð/ ∅	ached, creased, iced, puffed, raked graduate, gradual (both also /dj/ in RP) gorsedd, edh Wednesday, handsome, sandwich, ceilidh
dg	before ⟨e, i, y⟩ or a suffix	/dʒ/	lodger, pidgin, edgy, abridgment, acknowledgment, judgment, lodgment, fledgling	/dɡ/	headgear
f, ff		/f/	fine, off, affinity	/v/	of
g	before ⟨e, i, y, ae, oe⟩	/ɡ/ /dʒ/	get, eager, gig, algae (RP) gel, pager, gin, algae (GA) gentle, rage, gigantic, regimen	/ʒ/	genre, barrage, gigue, regime
	before ⟨m, n⟩	∅	phlegmy, diaphragm gnome, signed, poignant, reign	/ɡ/ /ʒ/	pigmy, signet, indignant judgment
	elsewhere	/ɡ/	go, great, leg, margaric	/dʒ/ /x/	margarine, gaol witgat
gg		/ɡ/	dagger, smuggest, staggerring	/dʒ/ /ɡdʒ/	agger, suggest, exaggerate suggest (GA)
gh	initially	/ɡ/	ghost, ghastly, ghetto
	elsewhere	∅	daughter, through, fraught, brougham eight, higher, straight, sighed	/ə/ or /oʊ/ /x/ or /k/ /k/ /f/ /ɡ/ /ɡh/ /p/	burgh lough, saugh hough laughter, trough, draught, roughage burgher, ogham, yogh leghorn, pigheaded hiccough
h	usually	/h/	honey, heist, house, manhandle doohickey, vehicular	∅	honest, heir, hours, piranha annihilate, vehicle, dinghy
	final or after ⟨r, ex⟩	∅	oh, rhubarb, rhyme, exhibit, exhaust	/h/	exhale, exhume (in RP)
j		/dʒ/	jump, ajar jonquil, Julian jalap, cajole bijugate	/j/ /ʒ/ /h/ ∅	Hallelujah, fjord jongleur, julienne, bijou jalapeno, fajita marijuana
k, kk, kh	usually	/k/	key, bake, trekking, sheikh, weeknight	∅	beknave, camiknickers
	initially before ⟨n⟩	∅	knee, knife, knock	/k/	knish, Knoebel
l, ll		/l/	valve, balcony, almost valley, flotilla line, colony	∅ /j/ /r/	halve, balk, salmon tortilla colonel (in rhotic accents)
m, mm	usually	/m/	mine, hammer
	initially before ⟨n⟩	∅	mnemonic
n, nn	usually	/n/	nice, funny, enzyme monsignor, damnable, tin	/ŋ/ ∅	anxiety monsieur
	before /k, g/	/ŋ/	inkling, bangle, anchor, minx	/n/	incline, vanguard, mankind
	finally after ⟨m⟩	∅	hymn, autumn, damningly
ng	finally (or when the following letters are all silent)	/ŋ/	long, tongue, kingly, singer, clingy	/ŋɡ/ /ndʒ/ /ŋ(k)/	longer, strongest stingy (ungenerous) strength, amongst
	medially otherwise	/ŋɡ/ /ndʒ/	congress, singly, finger, language binging, wharfinger, dingy, engaol	/nɡ/ /ŋ/ /nʒ/	congrats, engage, vanguard hangar, lingonberry, angst ingenue, lingerie
	initially	/əŋɡ/	ngana, ngultrum, Nguni	/n/	ngaio, Ngati
p, pp	usually	/p/	pill, happy, soup, corpse, script	∅	coup, corps, receipt, raspberry
	initially before ⟨n, s, t⟩	∅	pneumonia, psyche, ptomaine	/p/	psst
ph, pph		/f/	photograph, sapphire	/v/ /p/ /ph/ ∅	nephew (RP), Stephen shepherd, kniphofia, drophead apophthegm
q (not before ⟨u⟩)	usually	/k/	Iraq, waqf, yaqona, mbaqanga, qiviut
	in words of Chinese origin	/tʃ/	qi, qigong, guqin
r, rr, rh, rrh	usually	/r/	ray, parrot, rhyme, diarrhoea	∅	iron, croissant (RP), hors d'oeuvre (some pronunciations)
	before consonant finally before final ⟨e⟩	/r/, ∅ in non-rhotic	cart, hurt fir, walker, tear, burr, myrrh care	∅	sarsaparilla, forecastle
See below for combinations of vowel letters and ⟨r⟩
s	usually	/s/	song, ask, misled	/z/ /ʃ/ ∅	is, lens, raspberry sugar, tension island, aisle, debris, mesne
	between vowels	/z/	phrases, prison, pleasing	/s/ /ʒ/	bases, bison, leasing vision, closure
	word-final -⟨s⟩ morpheme after a voiceless sound	/s/	pets, shops
	word-final -⟨s⟩ morpheme after a lenis sound	/z/	beds, magazines
sc	before ⟨e, i, y⟩	/s/	scene, scepter, scissors, scythe	/sk/ /ʃ/ /z/	sceptic, scirrhus fascism crescent (RP), discern
sch		/ʃ/	schedule (RP), schist, eschalot	/sk/ /s/ /s tʃ/	school, scheme, schizoid, ischemia, eschar schism (RP) mischief, eschew
sh		/ʃ/	shin, fashion, wish, Lewisham, foreshore, kinship	/s h/ /z h/ /s ʃ/ /ʃ h/ /s/	mishap, mishit hogshead tranship threshold dishonour
ss		/s/	boss, assign, narcissus dissert, posses, brassier, finesse, cesspool, missout	/ʃ/ /ʒ/ /z/ /s s/	tissue, passion rescission, scissure dessert, possess, brassiere, scissor disseat, misspell, missort
sw		/sw/	swore, swan, swift	/s/ /zw/ ∅	sword, answer menswear coxswain
t, tt	usually	/t/	ten, bitter, etiology, nastier, attune, piteous, cation, softer, wallet, gristmill, haste, dishearten	/ʃ/ /tʃ/ /ʒ/ /d/ ∅	ration, martial, cautious bastion, nature, fortune, righteous equation, transition (RP) kindergarten (GA) soften, ballet, Christmas, mortgage
	in -⟨sten, stle⟩	∅	hasten, listens, rustling, thistles	/t/	tungsten, listless
tch		/tʃ/	batch, kitchen
th		/θ/ /ð/	absinthe bother, soothe	/t/ /tθ/ /th/ /tʃ/ ∅	thyme eighth outhouse, potherb (RP) posthumous (GA) asthma
v, vv		/v/	vine, heavy, savvy, reveled, revved
w	usually	/w/	sward, swerve, wale	∅ /v/	two, sword, answer, gunwale Weltanschauung, witgat
	before ⟨r⟩	/∅/	wrong, wrist, awry
wh-	usually	/w/	wheel	/f/	whew (RP), whanau
	before ⟨o⟩	/h/	who, whole	/w/	whopping, whorl
x	initially	/z/	xylophone, xenon, xenophobia
	after ⟨e⟩-, and before a vowel	/ɡz/	example, exist, exotic, exult existential, exultation, exit	/ks/ /z/	exogenous, exercise
	elsewhere	/ks/	boxes, mixes, expect, taxation, tuxedo, proximity, jinxed, next, six, taxi	/ɡz/ /ɡʒ/ /kʃ/ /z/ ∅	Alexander, auxiliary luxury (GA) anxiety anxious, luxury, sexual (GA) luxurious plateaux, chateaux faux-pas, roux
xc	before ⟨e, i⟩	/ks/	excellent, except, excited
xh		/ksh/	exhale, exhume, foxhole	/ks/ /ɡz/	exhibition, Vauxhall exhaust, exhibit exhilarating, exhortation
y-		/j/	yes, young	/ð/	ye (mock archaic)
z, zz		/z/	gazump, seized, crazier, rhizoophagous, pizzazz, zoo, quiz	/ʒ/ /ts/ ∅	azure, seizure, brazier (GA) schizophrenic, pizzas rendezvous

Combinations of vowel letters and ⟨r⟩

Spelling			Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values (IPA)	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
ar	elsewhere	stressed	/ɑːr/	argyle, car, farce			/ɛər/ scarce /æ/ sarsaparilla (GA) /ɜː/ dharna
		after /w/	/ɔːr/	war, award, dwarf warning, quarter
		unstressed	/ər/	circular, pillar
	before a vowel		/ɛər/	area, care, garish, wariness	/ær/ /ɑːr/	arid, parish, mariners, caraway aria, are, safaris, faraway	/ɔːr/ quarantine (GA) /ɒr/ waratah
aer			/ɛər/	aerial, aeroplane	/ɪər/	chimaera	/ər/ anaerobe
air, aire			/ɛər/	cairn, millionaire, dairy			/aɪər/ hetaira /aɪ'ɪər/ zaire
aor			/eɪ'ɔːr/	aorta
aur			/ɔːr/	dinosaur, aural
awr							/ə.r/ awry
awer			/ɔːr/	drawer
ayr			/eɪ'r/	playroom
ayer, ayor			/ɛər/	layer, mayor
er	elsewhere		/ɜːr/	her, coerced, jerk, merchant erring, preferred	/ɛər/ /ɛr/	berceuse error	/ɑːr/ clerk, sergeant
	before a vowel		/ɪər/	here, series, reremice, stereo	/ɛər/ /ɛr/ /iːr/	compere, there, werewolf derelict, heresy, perish, very derail, reremind	/ɜːr/ were, weregild
ear	elsewhere		/ɪər/	dearly, hears, yearling, tear	/ɛər/ /iːər/	tear, bears, wearing linear, nuclear, stearin	/ɜːr/ heard /iːr/ tearoom
	before a consonant		/ɜːr/	pearly, hearse, yearning, earth	/ɑːr/	hearken, hearty, hearth	/ɪər/ beard, peart /eɪər/ bearnaise /i'ɑːr/ rearm
eer			/ɪər/	cheering, beer, eerie	/iːər/	freer, seers
eir			/ɛər/	heir, madeira, their	/ɪər/	weird, weir, eyrie	/aɪər/ oneiric, eirenic
eor			/iɔːr/	deorbit, reorganise	/ɪər/	theory
eur, ewer	elsewhere		/jʊər/	euro, liqueur, neural, skewer	/ɜr/	masseur, voyeur	/iːɜːr/ theurgy
	after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, cons.+/l/		/ʊər/	pleurisy
ir	elsewhere		/ɜːr/	bird, fir, stirrer			/ɪər/ menhir
	before a vowel		/aɪər/	pirate, mired, virus, iris, wiring	/ɪr/	mirage, virile, iridescent, spirit
ier			/ɪər/	cashier, fierce, frontier, pier	/aɪər/ /iər/ to /jər/	shier, fiery, hierarchy, plier busier, rapier, glacier, hosiery	/iɛər/ concierge, premiere /ieɪ/ atelier, bustier, dossier /iːər/ skier
or	elsewhere		/ɔːr/	ford, boring, more	/ɒr/	forest, borrow, moral	/ɜːr/ whorl /ʌr/ borough ∅ comfortable
	after ⟨w⟩		/ɜːr/	word, work, worst	/ɔːr/	worn, sword, swore	/ʌr/ worry
oar			/ɔːr/	boar, coarse, keyboard, soaring			/ər/ cupboard, starboard /oʊˈɑːr/ coarctate
oer			/oʊ.ər/	partygoer, forgoer	/uː.ər/	undoer, canoer	/ər/ oersted
oir			/wɑːr/	reservoir, memoir, moire, soiree	/ɔɪər/	coir, loir, Moira	/waɪər/ choir /ər/ avoirdupois
oor			/ʊər/	poor, moor, roorback	/ɔːr/	door, flooring	/ər/ whippoorwill /oʊ'ɔːr/ coordinate
our	stressed		/ɔːr/	four, courtesan, discourse	/aʊər/ /ɜːr/ /ʊ(ə)r/	hour, flour, scours journey, courtesy, scourge tour, courier, gourd, velour	/ʌr/ encourage, flourish
	unstressed		/ər/	labour, colourful	/ʊr/ /ʊər/	entourage, potpourri detour, fourchette
owr, ower			/aʊər/	dowry, cowries, flower, tower	/oʊr/	cowrites, showroom, lower, stower
oyer			/ɔɪər/	foyer, destroyer
ur	elsewhere		/ɜːr/	turn, occur, curdle, burr furry, demurral, blurred, recurring	/ʌr/	RP: recurrent, occurrence	/ʊ(ə)r/ langur
	before a vowel	elsewhere	/jʊ(ə)r/	lure, purity, curing	/ʊ(ə)r/	allure, guru, Silurian	/ɛr/ bury, burial
		after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, cons.+/l/	/ʊ(ə)r/	rural, jury, plural, sure, assurance, allure
uer	elsewhere		/jʊ(ə)r/	issuer, arguer,
	after /r, ʃ, ʒ, j/, cons.+/l/		/ʊ(ə)r/	bluer, truer
yr	elsewhere		/ɜːr/	myrtle, myrrh			/ɪr/ pyrrhic /aɪər/ pyrite
	before a vowel		/aɪər/	lyre, tyrant, gyrate	/ɪr/	syrup, Pyrenees

Combinations of other consonant and vowel letters

Spelling		Major value (IPA)	Examples of major value	Minor values (IPA)	Examples of minor value	Exceptions
al	usually	/æl/	talcum, algae, alp	/ɔːl/ (also /ɒl/ in RP)	bald, false	/ɔː/ falcon (also with /ɔːl/ or /æl/)
	word final	/æl/	pal
alf	usually	/ɑːf/ (RP) /æf/ (GA)	calf, half			/ɔlf/ palfrey
	before a vowel	/ælf/	alfalfa, malfeasance
alk	usually	/ɔːk/	walk
	before a vowel	/ælk/	alkaline, grimalkin	/ɔːlk/	balkanise
all		/ɔːl/ /æl/	call, fallout, smaller shall, callus, fallow	/ɒl/ /(ə)l/	wallet, swallow allow, dialled	/ɛl/ marshmallow (GA), pall-mall (GA)
alm	usually	/ɑːm/	alms, calm			/ɔːm/ halm
	before a vowel	/ælm/	palmate, salmonella, talmud	/ɔːlm/	almanac, almost , instalment	/æm/ salmon /ɑːlm/ almond (GA) /əlm/ signalment /ɑːm/ balmy, palmistry
alt		/ɔːlt/ (also /ɒlt/ in RP )	alter, malt, salty, basalt	/ælt/	alto, shalt, saltation, asphalt (RP)	/ɑːlt/ gestalt (GA) /əlt/ royalty, penalty
-ange	word final	/eɪndʒ/	arrange, change, mange, strange	/ændʒ/	flange, phalange	/ɑːnʒ / melange /ɒndʒ/ blancmange /ɪndʒ/ orange
-aste	word final	/eɪst/	chaste, lambaste, paste, taste	/æst/	cineaste, caste (GA), pleonaste	/ɑːst/ (out)caste (RP) /əsteɪ/ namaste
ci	unstressed before vowel	/ʃ/	special, gracious	/si/ (also /ʃ/)	species
-cqu		/kw/	acquaint, acquire	/k/	lacquer, racquet
-ed	word final after /t/ or /d/	/ɪd, əd/	loaded, waited
	word final after a voiceless sound	/t/	piped, enserfed, snaked	/ɛd/	biped, underfed	/ɪd, əd/ naked
	word final after a lenis sound	/d/	limbed, enisled, unfeared	/ɛd/	imbed, misled, infrared	/ɪd, əd/ beloved
-es	word final after a fricative	/ɪz, əz/	mazes, washes, axes, bases, pieces	/iːz/	axes, bases, feces, oases
ex-	unstressed before ⟨h⟩ or a vowel	/ɪɡz, əɡz/	exist, examine, exhaust	/ɛks/	exhale
gu-	before ⟨a⟩	/ɡw/	bilingual, guano, language	/ɡ/	guard, guarantee
-(a)isle	word final	/aɪl/	aisle, isle, enisle, lisle
-le	word finally after non ⟨r⟩ cons.	/əl/	little, table	/l/	orle, isle	/leɪ/ boucle
-ngue	word final	/ŋ/	tongue, harangue, meringue	/ŋɡeɪ/	merengue, distingué	/ŋɡi/ dengue
old		/oʊld/	blindfold, older, bold	/əld/	scaffold, kobold (also /ɒld/)
olk		/oʊk/	yolk, folklore	/ɒlk/	polka (RP), kolkhoz	/oʊlk/ polka (GA)
oll		/ɒl/	dollhouse, pollen, trolley, holly	/oʊl/	tollhouse, swollen, troller, wholly	/ɔː/ atoll (GA)/ɔɪ/ cholla /əl/ caroller, collide
olm		/ɒlm/	olm, dolmen	/oʊlm/	enrolment, holmium	/oʊm/ holm (oak)
ong		/ɔːŋ/ /ɑːŋɡ/	songstress, along, strong, wronger congress, jongleur, bongo, conger, ongoing, nongraded	/ɑːndʒ/ /ɑːŋ/ /ɔːŋɡ/ /ʌŋɡ/ /ʌndʒ/	congeries, longevity, pongee tonger, bong, dugong, tongs longer, strongest, elongate monger, humongous, mongrel sponger, longe, spongy	/ʌŋ/ among, tongue /ənɡ/ congratulate, lemongrass /əndʒ/ congeal, congestion /ɒnʒ/ allonge /oʊnʒ/ congé (GA)
qu-		/kw/	queen, quick	/k/	liquor, mosquito
-que	word final	/k/	mosque, bisque	/keɪ/	manque, risqué	/kjuː/ barbeque /ki/ pulque
-re	word final after non ⟨r⟩ cons.	/ər/	timbre, acre, ogre, centre	/reɪ/, /ri/ /rə/	cadre (GA), compadre, emigre genre, oeuvre, fiacre
-ron	word final after vowel	/rɒn/	neuron, moron, interferon, aileron	/rən/	baron, heron, environ	/ə(r)n/ iron /roʊn/ chaperon
sci-	unstressed before a vowel	/ʃ/	conscience, luscious, prosciutto	/saɪ/	sciatica, sciamachy, sciential	/ʃi/ conscientious (RP), fasciated /sɪ/ (RP) omniscient, prescience
-scle	word final	/səl/	corpuscle, muscle	/skəl/	mascle
-se	word final after vowel (noun)	/s/	house, excuse, moose, anise, geese	/z/	prose, nose, tease, guise, compromise	/zeɪ/ marchese
	word final after vowel (verb)	/z/	house, excuse, choose, arise, please	/s/	grouse, dose, lease, chase, promise
-si	unstressed before a vowel	/ʒ/	vision, occasion, explosion, illusion	/zi/	easier, enthusiasm, physiological
	before a vowel and after a cons.	/ʃ/	pension, controversial, compulsion			/si/ tarsier, Celsius
-ssi	unstressed before a vowel	/ʃ/	mission, passion, Russia, session	/si/	potassium, dossier, messier
-sti	unstressed before a vowel	/stʃ/	question, Christian, suggestion
-sure	unstressed after a vowel	/ʒər/	leisure, treasure
	unstressed after a cons.	/ʃər/	tonsure, censure
-the	unstressed	/ð/	scathe, spathe
-ti	unstressed before a vowel	/ʃ/	cautious, patient, inertia, initial, ration	/ti/ /ʃi/	patios, consortia, fiftieth, courtier ratios, minutia, initiate, negotiate	/taɪ/ cation, cationic /ʒ/ equation /tj/ rentier (GA)
-ture	unstressed	/tʃər/	nature, picture
-zure	unstressed	/ʒər/	seizure, azure

Sound-to-spelling correspondences

The following table shows for each sound the various spelling patterns used to denote it, starting with the prototypical pattern(s) followed by others in alphabetical order. Some of these patterns are very rare or unique (such as ⟨gh⟩ for /p/, ⟨ph⟩ for /v/, ⟨i⟩ for /ɑː/). An ellipsis (⟨…⟩) stands for an intervening consonant.

Consonants

Arranged in the order of the IPA consonant tables.

Consonants
IPA	Spelling	Examples
/m/	m, mm, chm, gm, lm, mb, mbe, me, mh, mme, mn, monde mp, sme, tm	mine, hammer, drachm, phlegm, salmon, climb, combe, forme, mho, femme, autumn, Cholmondeley, assumption, disme, tmesipteris
/n/	n, nn, cn, dn, gn, gne, hn, kn, ln, mn, mp, nd, ne, ng, nh, nne, nt, pn, sn, sne	nice, inn, cnidarian, Wednesday, gnome, coigne, John, knee, Lincoln, mnemonic, comptroller, handsome, borne, ngaio, piranha, tonne, topgallant-sail, pneumonia, puisne, mesne
/ŋ/	ng, n, nc, nd, ngh, ngue	sing, link, charabanc, handkerchief, sangh, tongue
/p/	p, pp, gh, pe, ph, ppe, lfp	pill, apps, hiccough, thorpe, diphthong (RP), steppe, halfpenny
/b/	b, bb, be, bh, pb, (p)	bit, ebb, barbe, bhang, cupboard, (thespian (GA))
/t/	t, tt, bt, cht, ct, d, dt, ed, ght, kt, pt, phth, st, te, th, tte	ten, sett, doubt, yacht, victual, iced, veldt, dressed, lighter, ktypeite, ptarmigan, phthisical, cestui, forte, thyme, cigarette
/d/	d, dd, ddh, bd, de, dh, ed, ld, t, tt (some dialects)	dive, odd, Buddhism, bdellium, horde, dharma, abandoned, solder, kindergarten (GA), (flatter)
/k/	c, k, cc, cch, ch, ck, cq, cqu, cque, cu, ke, kh, kk, lk, q, qh, qu, que, x, (g)	cat, key, account, zucchini, chord, tack, acquire, lacquer, sacque, biscuit, burke, khaki, trekker, polka-dotted, quorum, fiqh, liquor, mosque, excite, (strength)
/ɡ/	g, gg, ckg, gge, gh, gu, gue	gig, egg, blackguard, pogge, ghost, guard, catalogue
/f/	f, ff, fe, ffe, ft, gh, lf, ph, phe, pph, v, ve, u	fine, chaff, carafe, gaffe, soften, laugh, half, physical, ouphe, sapphire, sovkhoz, fivepence, lieutenant (RP)
/v/	v, vv, f, lve, ph, u, ve, w, zv, b, bh, mh	vine, savvy, of, halve, Stephen, quetsh, have, weltanschauung, rendezvous, Habdalah, kethibh, ollamh
/θ/	th, the, chth, phth, tth, h	thin, absinthe, chthonic, apophthegm, Matthew, eighth
/ð/	th, the, dd, dh, y	them, breathe, gorsedd, edh, ye (mock archaic)
/s/	s, ss, c, cc, ce, ps, sc, sce, sch, se, sh, sse, sses, st, sth, sw, t, th, ts, tsw, tzs, tz, z	song, mess, city, flaccid, ounce, psalm, scene, coalesce, schism (RP), horse, dishonest, finesse, chausses, listen, asthma (RP), tzitzit, zizith, sword, tsunami (GA), boatswain, britzska, waltz (RP), quartz
/z/	z, zz, cz, ds, dz, s, sc, se, sh, sp, ss, sth, ts, tz, x, ze, zh, zs (one pronunciation), c (some dialects)	zoo, fuzz, czar, Windsor, Dzongkha, has, crescent (RP), tease, déshabillé, raspberry, dissolve, asthma (GA), tsarina, tzar, xylophone, breeze, zho, (vizsla), (electricity)
/ʃ/	sh, c, ce, ch, che, chi, chsi, ci, s, sc, sch, sche, schsch, sci, sesh, she, shh, shi, si, sj, ss, ssi, ti, psh, zh, x	shin, speciality, ocean, machine, quiche, marchioness, fuchsia, special, sugar, crescendo, schmooze, schottische, eschscholtzia, conscience, tortoiseshell, galoshe, shh, cushion, expansion, sjambok, tissue, mission, nation, pshaw, pirozhki, paxiuba
/ʒ/	ci, g, ge, j, s, si, ssi, ti, z, zh, zhe, zi, zs (one pronunciation)	coercion (GA), genre, beige, bijou, leisure, division, abscission, equation, seizure, muzhik, uzhe, brazier (GA), (vizsla)
/x/	ch (in Scottish English), gh (in Irish English)	loch, lough
/h/	h, wh, j, ch, x	he, who, fajita, chutzpah, Quixote
/ɾ/	In some dialects (see flapping): tt, dd, t, d	better, daddy, united, Cody
/r/	r, rr, l, re, rh, rre, rrh, rt, wr	fur, burr, colonel, forewarn, rhyme, murre, myrrh, mortgage, wrong
/l/	l, ll, le, lh, lle, gl, sle, ln (some dialects)	line, shall, tale, pelham, gazelle, imbroglio, aisle, (kiln)
/j/	y, h, i, j, l, ll, z, r (one pronunciation)	yes, vinho verde, onion, hallelujah, llano, tortilla, capercailzie, February
/hw/	wh (in some dialects), hu, hw, ju	which, Huang He, Hwang Ho, Don Juan
/w/	w, ww, u, o, ou, hu, hw, ju, wh (in most dialects)	we, glowworm, persuade, choir, Ouija, Huastec, Yahweh, marijuana, what
/tʃ/	ch, tch, c, cc, cch, che, chi, cs, cz, t, tche, te, th, ti, ts, tsch, tsh, tz, tzs, tzsch, q	chop, batch, cello, bocce, kaccha, niche (GA), falchion, csardas, Czech, nature, escutcheon, righteous, posthumous (GA), bastion (GA), britska (US), putsch, Wiltshire, britz(s)ka (US), Nietzschean, Qin
/dʒ/	g, j, ch, d, dg, dge, di, dj, dzh, ge, gg, gi, jj, t	magic, jump, sandwich (RP), graduate, judgment, bridge, soldier, adjust, Tadzhik, barge, veggies, Belgian, hajj, congratulate (US)
/ks/	x, xx, cast, cc, chs, cks, cques, cs, cz, kes, ks, lks, ques, xc, xe, xs, xsc, xsw	sax, doxxing, forecastle, accent, tachs, backs, sacques, sacs, eczema, burkes, yaks, caulks, toques, excel, axe, exsert, exscind, coxswain

Vowels

Sorted more or less from close to open sounds in the vowel diagram. Nasal vowels used by some speakers in words of French origin such as enceinte (/ɒ̃ˈsæ̃t/), are not included.

Vowels
IPA	Spelling	Examples
/iː/	e, e...e, i, i...e, a (some dialects), ae, aoi, ay, ea, ee, e'e, ei, eo, ey, eye, ie, ie...e, is, ix, oe, oi (some dialects), ue (some dialects), ui, uy, y	be, cede, ski, machine, bologna (GA), algae, Taoiseach, quay, beach, bee, e'en, deceit, people, key, keyed, field, hygiene, debris, prix, amoeba, chamois (GA), dengue (GA), beguine, guyot, ynambu
/ɪər/	ere, aer, e're, ea, ear, eare, eer, eere, ehr, eir, eor, er, ers, eyr, ier, iere, ir, oea, yer	here, chimaera, we're, idea (RP), ear, feared, beer, peered, lehr, weird, theory (RP), series, revers, eyrie, pier, premiere, souvenir, diarrhoea (RP), twyer
/ɪ/	i, y, a, a...e, ai, e, ea, ee, ei, ey (some dialects), eye (some dialects), i...e, ia, ie, ii, o, oe, oi (some dialects), u, u...e, ue (some dialects), ui, uy (some dialects)	bit, myth, orange, chocolate, bargain, pretty, mileage, breeches, counterfeit, money (RP), volleyed (RP), medicine, carriage, sieve, shiitake, women, oedema, chamois (RP), busy, minute, dengue (RP), build, plaguy (RP)
/uː/	u, u...e, oo, oo...e, eew, eu, ew, ieu, ioux, o, o...e, oe, oeu, ooe, ou, ough, ougha, oup, ue, uh, ui, uo, w, wo	tutu, flute, too, groove, leeward, sleuth, yew, lieu, Sioux, to, lose, shoe, manoeuvre, cooed, soup, through, brougham, coup, true, buhl, fruit, buoy (GA), cwm, two
/ʊ/	oo, u, o, o...e, or, ou, oul, w	look, full, wolf, pembroke, worsted, courier, should, cwtch
/eɪ/	a, a...e, aa, ae, ai, ai...e, aig, aigh, ais, al, alf, ao, au, ay, aye, e (é), e...e, ea, eg, ee (ée), eh, ei, ei...e, eig, eigh, eighe, er, ere, es, et, ete, ey, eye, ez, ie, oeh, ue, uet	bass, rate, quaalude, reggae, rain, cocaine, arraign, straight, palais, Ralph (Br.), halfpenny, gaol, gauge, hay, played, ukulele (café), crepe, steak, matinee (soirée), thegn, eh, veil, beige, reign, eight, weighed, dossier, espaliered, demesne, ballet, crocheted, they, obeyed, chez, lingerie (GA), boehmite (GA), merengue, bouquet
/ɛər/	are, aer, air, aire, ar, ayer, ayor, ayre, e'er, eah, ear, ehr, eir, eor, er, ere, err, erre, ert, ey're, eyr, (ahr)	bare, aerial, tahr, hair, millionaire, scarce, prayer, mayor, fayre, ne'er, yeah, bear, Wehrmacht, heir, ceorl, moderne, where, err (GA), parterre, couvert, they're, eyra, (tahr)
/ɛ/	e, a, ae, ai, ay, e...e, ea, eh, ei, eo, ie, ieu, oe, u, ue, ee (one pronunciation)	met, many, aesthetic, said, says, there, deaf, feh, heifer, jeopardy, friend, lieutenant (RP), foetid, bury, guess, (threepence)
/ə/	a, e, i, o, u, y, a...e, ae, ah, ai, anc, ath, au, ea, eau, eh, ei, eig, eo, eou, eu, gh, ie, o...e, oa, oe, oh, oi, oo, op, ou, ough, u...e, ua, ue, ui, uo, wa...e	tuna, oven, pencil, icon, opus, beryl, carcase, anaerobe, Messiah, mountain, blancmange, tuath, aurora, Eleanor, bureaucrat, keffiyeh, mullein, foreign, truncheon, timeous, amateur (RP), burgh, mischievous (GA), awesome, starboard, biocoenosis, matzoh, porpoise, whipoorwill, topgallant, callous, borough (RP), minute (GA), piquant, guerilla, circuit (GA), languor, gunwale
/ɜːr/	er, ir, ur, ar, ear, ere, err, erre, eur, eure, irr, irre, oeu, olo, or, our, ueur, uhr, urr, urre, yr, yrrh	defer, fir, fur, dharna, earl, were, err, interred, voyeur, chauffeured (GA), birr, stirred, hors d'oeuvre, colonel, worst, adjourn, liqueur, buhrstone, purr, murre, myrtle, myrrh
/oʊ/	o, o...e, aoh, au, aux, eau, eaue, eo, ew, oa, oe, oh, oo, ore, ot, ou, ough, oughe, ow, owe, w	so, bone, pharaoh, mauve, faux, beau, plateaued, yeoman, sew, boat, foe, oh, brooch, forecastle, depot, soul, though, furloughed, know, owe, pwn
/ʌ/	u, o, o...e, oe, oo, ou, uddi, wo, a, au (some dialects), ee (one pronunciation)	sun, son, come, does, flood, touch, studdingsail, twopence, sati, (because), (threepence)
/ɔː/	o, a, al, au, au...e, augh, aughe, aw, awe, eo, oa, oh, oo, oss, ou, ough, u, uo	flora, bald, talk, author, cause, caught, overslaughed, jaw, awe, ealdorman, broad, bohrium, flooring, crossjack, pouring, bought, surest (RP), fluoridate (RP)
/ɔːr/	or, ore, aor, ar, aur, aure, hors, oar, oare, oor, oore, our, oure, owar, ure	or, fore, extraordinary, war, dinosaur, roquelaure, hors d'oeuvre, oar, soared, bohrium, door, floored, four, poured, toward (GA), sure (RP)
/æ/	a, a...e, aa, ag, ah, ai, al, ar, au, e, ea, eathersto, ei, i, ua, o (one pronunciation)	hand, have, Aaron, seraglio (GA), Fahrenheit, plaid, salmon, sarsaparilla (GA), laugh (GA), Cheyenne, poleax, Featherstonehaugh, enceinte, meringue, guarantee, (chometz)
/ɑː/	a, a...e, aa, aae, aah, aahe, ag, ah, au, i, o (one pronunciation), ar (one pronunciation)	father, garage, salaam, baaed, aah, aahed, seraglio (RP), blah, aunt (RP), lingerie (GA), (chometz), (schoolmarm)
/ɑːr/	ar, aar, ahr, alla, are, arr, arre, arrh, ear, er, uar, our (some dialects)	car, bazaar, tahr, topgallant-sail, are, parr, bizarre, catarrh, heart, sergeant, guard, (our)
/ɒ/	a, o, ach, au, eau, oh, ou, ow, e, eo	watch, lock, yacht, sausage, bureaucracy, demijohn, cough, acknowledge, entrée, cheongsam (RP)
/juː/	u, u...e, ew, eau, eo, eu, ewe, ieu, iew, ou, ue, ueue, ugh, ui, ut, uu, you	music, use, few, beauty, feodary, feud, ewe, adieu, view, ampoule (GA), cue, queue, Pugh, nuisance, debut, vacuum (GA), you
/aɪ/	i...e, ae, ai, aie, aille, ais, ay, aye, ei, eigh, eu, ey, eye, i, ia, ic, ie, ig, igh, ighe, is, oi, oy, ui, uy, uye, y, y...e, ye	fine, maestro, krait, shanghaied, canaille (RP), aisle, kayak, aye, heist, height, deuddarn, heyduck, eye, mic, diaper, indict, tie, sign, high, sighed, isle, choir, coyote (GA), guide, buy, guyed, why, type, bye
/ɔɪ/	oi, oy, eu, oll, ooi, oye, ui, uoy, uoye, (awy)	avoid, toy, lawyer, Freudian, cholla, rooibos, enjoyed, schuit, buoyant, buoyed (RP), (lawyer)
/aʊ/	ou, ow, ao, aou, aow, aowe, au, aw, odh, ough, oughe, owe, iao, iau, (eo)	out, now, manoao, caoutchouc, miaow, miaowed, gauss, Mawlid, bodhrán, bough, ploughed, vowed, jiao, chiaus, (Macleod)

See also

• False etymology
• Spelling bee
• List of English homographs
• The Chaos – a poem by Gerard Nolst Trenité demonstrating the irregularities of English spelling

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Conventions

• English plural
• I before E except after C
• Three letter rule

Variant spelling

• American and British English spelling differences
• Misspelling
  • Satiric misspelling
  • Sensational spelling
• Spelling of disc

Graphemes

• Apostrophe
• Eth
• Long s
• Thorn (letter)
• Yogh

Phonetic orthographic systems

• English spelling reform
• Interspel
• Pronouncing Orthography

English scripts

• English alphabet (Latin script)
• American manual alphabet
• Two-handed manual alphabets
• English braille
• American braille
• New York Point
• Shavian alphabet

Words in English

• Lists of English words
• Classical compound
• Ghoti

English phonology

• Regional accents of English
  • IPA chart for English dialects
• Stress and vowel reduction in English
• Initial-stress-derived noun
• Traditional English pronunciation of Latin

Orthographies of English-related languages

Germanic languages

• Danish
• Dutch
• German
• Icelandic
• Scots

Romance languages

• French
• Italian
• Milanese
• Portuguese
• Spanish

Celtic languages

• Irish
• Scottish Gaelic
• Welsh

Historical languages

• Latin
• Old Norse
• Old English

Constructed languages

• Esperanto

Bibliography

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External links

• Rules for English Spelling: Adding Suffixes, QU Rule, i before e, Silent e, 'er' vs. 'or'
• Hou tu pranownse Inglish describes rules which predict a word's pronunciation from its spelling with 85% accuracy
• Free spelling information and Free spelling lessons in QuickTime movie format at The Phonics Page.