Your English Alphabet Guide With Audio To Master Pronunciation

Do you know your ABCs? The English alphabet is one of the first things you’ll memorize when you learn English. It’s essential for reading and writing, and it will also improve your pronunciation. Learning how to say English words isn’t always easy, but recognizing patterns and common letters will help. With the charts and examples in this guide, you’ll be a master of the English alphabet in no time.

Table of Contents

• What letters are in the English alphabet?
• Pronouncing the alphabet in English
• English alphabet pronunciation guide
• Tricky consonants in the English alphabet 
• English spelling alphabet chart 
• Common English initialisms 
• Frequently asked questions about the English alphabet

What letters are in the English alphabet?

The English alphabet has 26 letters. If you speak a Germanic language or Romance language, then most or all of the letters will be familiar to you! The pronunciations may be a little different, but the letters are written the same way. 

Like many other similar languages, English has uppercase (capital) letters and lowercase letters. Uppercase letters usually go at the beginning of a sentence or proper nouns (like names and places). Lowercase letters are used for almost everything else.

In general, English doesn’t use accent marks (also called diacritics). However, you may sometimes see them in words that aren’t originally from English, such as résumé (from French).

Pronouncing the alphabet in English

Every English letter has a name and a way to pronounce it. When the letters are put into words, their pronunciation will be a little different.

It’s important to start with learning how to say each letter of the alphabet. If you ask someone how to spell a word, they’ll probably use the English letter names! Use this chart to learn the name of each letter, and listen to how to pronounce them.

English Uppercase Letter	English Lowercase Letter	English Name	English Pronunciation
A	a	ay	ey
B	b	bee	bee
C	c	cee	see
D	d	dee	dee
E	e	ee	ee
F	f	ef/eff	ef
G	g	gee	jee
H	h	aitch/haitch	eych
I	i	i	ahy
J	j	jay	jey
K	k	kay	key
L	l	el/ell	el
M	m	em	em
N	n	en	en
O	o	o	oh
P	p	pee	pee
Q	q	cue	kyoo
R	r	ar	ahr
S	s	es/ess	es
T	t	tee	tee
U	u	u	yoo
V	v	vee	vee
W	w	double-u	DUHB-uhl-yoo
X	x	ex	eks
Y	y	wy	wahy
Z	z	zee	zee

English alphabet pronunciation guide

Even though the alphabet is small, English pronunciation has a lot of variety. This can make learning how to speak English challenging. The best way to learn English pronunciation is to combine reading and listening, such as through Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method. Hearing how a word is pronounced as you read it will help you recognize rules and exceptions over time.

There are many English-speaking countries around the world, and some of them use slightly different pronunciations. The audio pronunciations included in this guide use the English spoken in the United States, also known as American English.

English vowels

The pronunciation of English vowels is more complicated than English consonants. There are many letter combinations for each type of sound (called a phoneme). This chart introduces you to all of English’s vowel sounds as single vowels or vowel combinations. You may notice that some vowel combinations are repeated, so learning which pronunciation to use will come with practice as you learn the whole word. 

English has many vowel and consonant combinations that make the same sound. This list does not include all of those combinations. Instead, these are the most common ones for each sound. Start by focusing on how to pronounce the example words instead of all of the letter combinations. Listen carefully to the audio to hear the right sound that goes with each vowel combination.

English Vowel	Sound	Example
a/ai	“a”	apple
ai/ay/ei	“ay”	day
air/ear/ere	“air”	bear
a/au	“ah”	father
e/ea	“e”	head
ear/eer/er	“ear”	period
ee/e/y	“ee”	key
i	“i”	it
igh/i_e/ai	“ahy”	fire
o/a	“o”	office
oa/o	“oa”	oak
oi/oy	“oi”	soil
oo/o/u	“oo” (short)	book
oo/o/ue	“oo” (long)	moon
or/ore	“or”	four
ow/ou	“ow”	now
u/o	“uh”	son
u/eu/ew	“yoo”	you
ur/er/ir	“er”	bird
ure	“er” (emphasis on “r”)	cure

What is the Schwa sound?

English vowel sounds also include the soft Schwa sound (indicated as ə in pronunciation guides). The Schwa sound can be any vowel. It’s not a silent letter, but it’s always unstressed. This means that another part of the word will sound stronger, and the Schwa sound will be softer and sound like “uh.” 

All of these examples use a Schwa sound, even though the vowel is different!

English Vowel	Example	Pronunciation
a	away	uh-WEY
e	kitchen	KICH-uhn
i	family	FAM-uh-lee
o	lemon	LEM-uhn
u	column	KOL-uhm

English consonants

The pronunciations for English consonants are much easier to understand than English vowels. A sound can still have multiple spellings (or graphemes), but consonants have fewer combinations. Listen to the consonant pronunciations in this chart and see how they combine with the vowels around them.

English Consonant	Sound	Example
b/bb	“b”	boy
d/ed	“d”	dog
f/ff/gh	“f”	fall
g/gg/	“g”	egg
h/wh	“h”	hat
j/ge/g	“j”	jeans
k/c/ck/x	“k”	car
l/ll	“l”	ball
m/mm	“m”	summer
n/nn/	“n”	name
ng/n/	“ng” (sounds in the throat)	sing
p/pp	“p”	map
r/rr/wr	“r”	carrot
s/ss/c	“s”	sad
t/tt/ed	“t”	batter
v/ve	“v”	vote
y/i	“y”	year
z/zz/s/se	“z”	zero
zh/si/z	“zh” (teeth clenched)	azure
ch/tch	“ch”	chair
sh/ch	“sh”	shirt
th	“th” (unvoiced)	think
th	“th” (voiced)	soothe

Tricky consonants in the English alphabet 

Although most English consonants look like how they sound, there are some tricky letters to learn. Watch for these pronunciations and how they’re different.

Letters “th” voiced and unvoiced

The ed combination can be voiced or unvoiced. A voiced sound is one where the vocal cords in your throat vibrate. It’s a deeper and harsher sound that comes from your throat. Touch the front of your neck and say these voiced “th” sounds out loud:

• brother
• this

Did you feel your vocal cords vibrate?

An unvoiced sound is one where the vocal cords do not vibrate. You put your tongue on the back of your top teeth and almost whisper the sound. Touch the front of your neck again and say these unvoiced “th” sounds out loud:

• teeth
• something

With the correct pronunciation, you won’t feel your vocal cords vibrate on the “th” sound. It comes from behind your teeth instead.

Letters “ed”

The letter combination ed at the end of a word (usually verbs in English) can sound like “d” or “t.” 

Usually, ed will sound like “t” if the letters before it are one of these: p, k, f, s, ch, sh, x, or th. Listen for the “t” sound in this word:

• dropped

The combination ed will usually sound like “d” if the letters before it are one of these: t, d, b, g,  j, m, n, l, r, th, w, v, or z. Listen for the “d” sound in this word: 

• condemned

Letters “c” and “s”

The letter c can either sound like “k” or “s.” If the letter after the c is e, i, or y, it usually sounds like “s.” You can hear this in the following word: 

• city 

If the letter after the c is anything else, it usually sounds like “k.” This includes situations where c appears in the middle of the word, such as:

• soccer 

Letter “q”

The letter q is unusual in English. Most of the time, the letter u comes after q. That qu combination is often pronounced like “kw” as in:

• queen

However, q can also be pronounced as “k.” This happens in a lot of words that come from other languages, like French. For example, listen to the q sound in this word:

• mosque

Letter “x”

The letter x has four main pronunciations.

• “ks” sound: When x is at the end of a word, goes before a consonant in the same syllable (single sound in a word), or goes before an unstressed vowel.
  • Example: box
• “gz” sound: When x goes before a stressed vowel.
  • Example: exact
• “z” sound: When x is at the beginning of a word
  • Example: xylophone
• “ksh” sound: When x goes before a suffix (word ending) that starts with i or u.
  • Example: anxious

English spelling alphabet chart 

English has a special system to help spell words using other words. If you spell out a word at a time when the letters are difficult to hear (like over the phone), you can clarify by adding a word that starts with the same letter. The specific words in this chart are known as the NATO phonetic alphabet or the ICAO alphabet. 

English Letter	Spelling Alphabet	English Pronunciation
a	Alfa	AL-fuh
b	Bravo	BRAH-voh
c	Charlie	CHAHR-lee
d	Delta	DEL-tuh
e	Echo	EK-oh
f	Foxtrot	FOKS-trot
g	Golf	gawlf
h	Hotel	hoh-TEL
i	India	IN-dee-uh
j	Juliett	JOO-lee-uht/joo-lee-ET
k	Kilo	KEE-loh/KIL-oh
l	Lima	LEE-muh
m	Mike	mahyk
n	November	noh-VEM-ber
o	Oscar	OS-ker
p	Papa	PAH-puh
q	Quebec	kwi-BEK/ki-BEK
r	Romeo	ROH-mee-oh
s	Sierra	see-ER-uh
t	Tango	TANG-goh
u	Uniform	YOO-nuh-fawrm
v	Victor	VIK-ter
w	Whiskey	WIS-kee
x	X-ray	EKS-rey
y	Yankee	YANG-kee
z	Zulu	ZOO-loo

You might hear these words used for spelling in a few different ways. Some people may use only words to spell out a name or series of letters:

• To confirm, your name is Juan: Juliett Uniform Alfa November?

Other people may give the letter and then the word from a spelling alphabet:

• My last name is Nguyen: N for November, G for Golf, U for Uniform, Y for Yankee, E for Echo, N for November.

Fortunately, you don’t need to memorize these exact words. You can use any word to help with spelling as long as the word is common and starts with the right letter.

• My first name is Ben: B for Boy, E for Elephant, N for Nancy.

Common English initialisms 

An initialism is a word that abbreviates several words into one short word. They’re written in uppercase letters. An initialism is different from an acronym because acronyms (like NATO or FIFA) are pronounced as one word, but initialisms are pronounced letter by letter. This chart includes some of the most common English initialisms.

English Initialism	Meaning
ID	identification
DOB	date of birth
ATM	automatic teller machine
AKA	also known as
RSVP	répondez s’il vous plaît (French for “respond if you please”)
ETA	estimated time of arrival
TBA	to be announced
ER	emergency room
N/A	not applicable/not available
ELL	English language learner
UN	United Nations
UK	United Kingdom
US	United States
USA	United States of America

Initialisms often need articles like a or the before them when used in a sentence. Think of them as nouns and apply the normal grammar rules for English nouns.

• Excuse me. Is there an ATM near here?

Frequently asked questions about the English alphabet

There’s a lot to learn about the English alphabet. If it feels like too much, start by remembering these frequently asked questions (or FAQs, which is another initialism!) from learners like you.

How many letters are in the English alphabet?

Modern English has 26 letters. In the past, Old English used a few other letters, including Æ (“a”) and Ð (“th”). Over time, letters like Æ were replaced with modern letters like A instead of having their own sounds.

What is the order of the English alphabet?

The English alphabet starts with A and ends with Z. This is the correct order of the English alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

How can I practice the English alphabet?

The best way to practice the alphabet is to practice spelling. You can do this in several ways:

• read books, news, and movie subtitles
• sign up for Word of the Day emails like the one on Dictionary.com
• play word games (like crosswords)
• learn English naturally through the Rosetta Stone app

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