Sounds, letters and spelling
Alphabet, vowel sounds, silent letters and letter-sound mismatch.
English uses an alphabet of 26 letters. Five of them — a, e, i, o, u — are vowels, and the remaining 21 are consonants (the letter y can act as either). A key idea in English phonetics is that letters and sounds are not the same: the number of letters in a word is often different from the number of sounds we actually pronounce. Vowel letters can stand for short sounds (the /ɪ/ in 'ship') or long sounds (the /iː/ in 'sheep'), and two vowel sounds can glide together into one diphthong, as in 'rain', 'boy' or 'house'. English also has many silent letters that are written but not pronounced, such as the k in 'knife', the w in 'write', the b in 'lamb' and the gh in 'night'. Because spelling and pronunciation often disagree, the same letter can be silent in one word and sounded in another. For example: the word 'knight' is spelled with 6 letters (k-n-i-g-h-t) but pronounced with only 3 sounds /naɪt/, because the k and gh are silent and 'igh' represents a single diphthong.
Key terms
| Word | Silent letter | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| knife | k | /naɪf/ |
| write | w | /raɪt/ |
| lamb | b | /læm/ |
| sign | g | /saɪn/ |
| hour | h | /aʊə/ |
| listen | t | /lɪsən/ |
| island | s | /aɪlənd/ |
| Letter(s) | Sound | Example word |
|---|---|---|
| c | /s/ | city |
| c | /k/ | cup |
| g | /dʒ/ | giant |
| g | /ɡ/ | good |
| ch | /k/ | school |
| ch | /tʃ/ | church |
| gh | /f/ | laugh |
| ea | /iː/ | sea |
| ea | /e/ | bread |
- 1Letters: Write the word out: k-n-i-g-h-t. That is 6 letters.
- 2Remove silent letters: The k is silent and the gh is silent, so they make no sound.
- 3Group the rest: The letters 'igh' represent a single diphthong /aɪ/, and the n and t are pronounced /n/ and /t/.
- 4Count sounds: The sounds are /n/, /aɪ/, /t/ — only 3 sounds, even though there are 6 letters /naɪt/.
- 1Letters: Write the word out: b-o-x. That is 3 letters.
- 2Check the tricky letter: The letter x is not one sound — it stands for two sounds, /k/ and /s/.
- 3List the sounds: The sounds are /b/, /ɒ/, /k/, /s/.
- 4Count sounds: That is 4 sounds from only 3 letters, so 'box' has MORE sounds than letters.
Do not mix up the totals: 26 is the whole alphabet, 21 is the number of consonants, and 5 is the number of vowels. The question asks which one you need.
Letters and sounds are not the same count. 'ship' has 4 letters but only 3 sounds because 'sh' is one sound; 'box' and 'six' have 3 letters but 4 sounds because 'x' is /ks/. Always say the word and count what you hear.
A final 'e' is usually silent and only makes the vowel before it long, as in 'name' /eɪ/ and 'hope' /əʊ/ — but in some words like 'recipe' the final 'e' IS pronounced, so check the actual sound.
Spelling can hide the vowel sound. 'fit' and 'fin' have a short /ɪ/, while 'feet' has a long /iː/; 'pine' and 'pie' look short but contain the diphthong /aɪ/. Listen for short, long, or gliding before you decide.
Rules
- 1The English alphabet has 26 letters: 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 21 consonants.
- 2Count letters by writing; count sounds by pronouncing — they are often different.
- 3Short vowel sounds (ship /ɪ/) differ from long vowel sounds (sheep /iː/); a diphthong is two vowel sounds glided as one (rain, boy, house).
- 4Silent letters are written but not spoken: k in knife, w in write, b in lamb, gh in night.
- 5Spelling rarely matches pronunciation exactly, so always check the actual sounds you say.
Practice
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