English: spelling → sound
English spelling cannot be fully reverse-engineered: it froze around 1500, then the vowels moved (the Great Vowel Shift) and the words kept arriving from French, Latin and Greek with their own habits. What the tracer CAN show: the consonant digraphs are reliable (sh, ch, th, ph, ng, ck), the 'magic e' rule usually works (mad/made, bit/bite, hop/hope), and r colours the vowel before it (car, bird, for). Vowels in unstressed syllables collapse to /ə/ — the single most important thing to know about the sound of English. Transcription here is a British (RP-like) reference; the note column flags American differences. Every vocabulary entry carries a hand-verified transcription — trust that over the tracer.
Trace a word
Every box is one rule firing. Hover a box (or open the table) to see why. Rules are applied in order, first match wins — that order is the spelling system.
sh
ʃ
i
ɪ
p
p
Consonants & glides
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| p | p, pp | pen pɛn pen — Aspirated at the start of a stressed syllable: [pʰ]. |
| b | b, bb | bed bɛd bed |
| t | t, tt, -ed | tea tiː tea — American: [ɾ] between vowels (water, butter). |
| d | d, dd, -ed | dog dɒɡ dog |
| k | c, k, ck, ch (Greek), qu | cat kæt cat |
| ɡ | g, gg, gu | go ɡəʊ go |
| m | m, mm, mb (final) | man mæn man |
| n | n, nn, kn, gn | knife naɪf knife |
| ŋ | ng, n before k | sing sɪŋ sing |
| f | f, ff, ph, gh (laugh) | fish fɪʃ fish |
| v | v, f (of) | very ˈvɛri very |
| θ | th | think θɪŋk think — Tongue between the teeth, no voice. |
| ð | th (function words, between vowels) | this ðɪs this — the, this, that, they, mother, breathe. |
| s | s, ss, c (e,i,y), sc | sun sʌn sun |
| z | z, zz, s (plural after voiced, between vowels) | zoo zuː zoo |
| ʃ | sh, ti (-tion), ci, ssi, ch (French loans) | ship ʃɪp ship |
| ʒ | s (measure), si (vision), ge (beige) | measure ˈmɛʒə measure |
| h | h, wh (who) | house haʊs house |
| t͡ʃ | ch, tch, tu (nature) | church t͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ church |
| d͡ʒ | j, g (e,i,y), dge | judge d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ judge |
| l | l, ll | light laɪt light — Dark [ɫ] at the end of syllables (full, milk). |
| ɹ | r, rr, wr | red ɹɛd red — Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American. |
| j | y, u (use), ew | yes jɛs yes |
| w | w, wh, u (queen) | water ˈwɔːtə water |
Vowels
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ɪ | i, y, e (unstressed) | sit sɪt sit |
| iː | ee, ea, e_e, ie, -y (final, short) | see siː see |
| ɛ | e, ea (bread) | bed bɛd bed |
| æ | a | cat kæt cat — Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide. |
| ɑː | ar, a (father, bath — British) | car kɑː car |
| ɒ | o, a after w | hot hɒt hot — American: /ɑ/. |
| ɔː | or, aw, au, al, ough (thought) | law lɔː law |
| ʊ | oo (book), u (put), oul (could) | book bʊk book |
| uː | oo, u_e, ew, ou (soup) | food fuːd food |
| ʌ | u, o (son, love), ou (young) | cup kʌp cup |
| ɜː | er, ir, ur, ear (earth), or (word) | bird bɜːd bird — American: /ɝ/ with the r. |
| ə | any unstressed vowel | about əˈbaʊt about — The commonest English vowel. banana = /bəˈnɑːnə/. |
| eɪ | a_e, ai, ay, ei (eight), ea (great) | make meɪk make |
| aɪ | i_e, igh, y, ie (pie), uy (buy) | time taɪm time |
| ɔɪ | oi, oy | boy bɔɪ boy |
| aʊ | ou, ow | house haʊs house |
| əʊ | o_e, oa, ow, o (final) | home həʊm home — American: /oʊ/. |
| ɪə | ear, eer, ere (here) | near nɪə near — American: /ɪr/. |
| eə | air, are (care), ear (bear) | hair heə hair — American: /ɛr/. |
The rules, in order
94 rules. The left column is a pattern (regular expression) matched at the current position of the word; (?=…) looks ahead, (?<=…) looks behind, $ is the end of the word.
| # | Pattern | Sound | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (?:tion|sion)(?:$| ) | -tion/-sion = /ʃən/ | |
| 2 | ture(?:$| ) | -ture = /t͡ʃə/ (nature, future) | |
| 3 | (?<=^(?:[hmwb]|sh|w))e(?:$| ) | he, me, we, be, she = /iː/ | |
| 4 | (?<=^th)e(?:$| ) | the = /ðə/ (before consonants) | |
| 5 | (?<=^[a-z])y(?:$| ) | by, my = /aɪ/ | |
| 6 | y(?:$| ) | final -y after a consonant = /i/ (happy, city) | |
| 7 | (?<=^[td])o(?:$| ) | to, do = /uː/ | |
| 8 | o(?:$| ) | final o = /əʊ/ (go, no, so) | |
| 9 | (?<=^[cs])ome(?:$| ) | come, some = /ʌm/ (exceptions to magic e) | |
| 10 | (?<=l|gl|d|ab)ove(?:$| ) | love, glove, dove, above = /ʌv/ | |
| 11 | (?<=^)one(?:$| ) | one = /wʌn/ | |
| 12 | (?<=ou)se(?:$| ) | house, mouse: voiceless s | |
| 13 | (?<=[aeiouy])se(?:$| ) | vowel + se at the end = /z/ (cheese, rose, these) | |
| 14 | a(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: a_e = /eɪ/ (make, name) | |
| 15 | i(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: i_e = /aɪ/ (time, like) | |
| 16 | o(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: o_e = /əʊ/ (home, nose) | |
| 17 | u(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: u_e = /juː/ (cute, use) | |
| 18 | e(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: e_e = /iː/ (these, scene) | |
| 19 | (?<=[^aeiou])e(?:$| ) | final e after a consonant is silent | |
| 20 | tch | ||
| 21 | ch | ch = /t͡ʃ/ (school, chef are exceptions) | |
| 22 | sh | ||
| 23 | (?<=^)th(?=e|is|at|ey|em|ere|an|en|ose|us) | th in function words = voiced /ð/ (the, this, that, they) | |
| 24 | th | th = /θ/ (thin, think); /ð/ between vowels (mother) | |
| 25 | ph | ||
| 26 | wh(?=o) | who, whole = /h/ | |
| 27 | wh | ||
| 28 | ck | ||
| 29 | (?<=^| )kn | silent k: knife, know | |
| 30 | (?<=^| )wr | silent w: write, wrong | |
| 31 | (?<=^| )gn | silent g: gnome | |
| 32 | (?<=m)b(?=$| ) | silent b: lamb, climb | |
| 33 | igh | igh = /aɪ/ (night, light) | |
| 34 | gh(?=t) | silent gh before t (eight, caught) | |
| 35 | qu | ||
| 36 | ng(?=$| |[^aeiou]) | ng at the end of a syllable = /ŋ/ (no g!) | |
| 37 | n(?=k) | ||
| 38 | dge | ||
| 39 | c(?=[eiy]) | c before e/i/y = /s/ | |
| 40 | c | ||
| 41 | g(?=[eiy]) | g before e/i/y = /d͡ʒ/ (get, give are exceptions) | |
| 42 | g | ||
| 43 | j | ||
| 44 | (?<=^| )x | ||
| 45 | x | ||
| 46 | (?<=[bdgvmnlrwy])s(?=$| ) | plural/3rd-person s after a voiced sound = /z/ | |
| 47 | ss | ||
| 48 | ll | ||
| 49 | tt | ||
| 50 | pp | ||
| 51 | nn | ||
| 52 | mm | ||
| 53 | rr | ||
| 54 | dd | ||
| 55 | bb | ||
| 56 | ff | ||
| 57 | gg | ||
| 58 | zz | ||
| 59 | air | ||
| 60 | ear(?![aeiou]) | ear = /ɪə/ (near, hear); bear, earth are exceptions | |
| 61 | eer | ||
| 62 | ar(?![aeiouy]) | ar = /ɑː/ (car, park) | |
| 63 | or(?![aeiouy]) | or = /ɔː/ (for, short) | |
| 64 | er(?:$| ) | final -er = /ə/ (teacher, water) | |
| 65 | (?:er|ir|ur)(?![aeiouy]) | er/ir/ur = /ɜː/ (bird, nurse, her) | |
| 66 | (?<=[aeiou])r(?=$| ) | final r after a vowel is silent (British) | |
| 67 | r | ||
| 68 | ee | ||
| 69 | ea | ea = /iː/ (eat, tea); bread, great are exceptions | |
| 70 | (?<=g|h|st|w)ood(?:$| ) | good, hood, stood, wood = /ʊd/ (but food, mood = /uːd/) | |
| 71 | oo(?=k(?:$| )) | oo before k = /ʊ/ (book, look, cook) | |
| 72 | oo | oo = /uː/ (food, moon) | |
| 73 | ou | ou = /aʊ/ (house, out); soup, young are exceptions | |
| 74 | ow(?=n|l|$| ) | ow at the end = /əʊ/ (show, low); cow, now are exceptions | |
| 75 | ow | ||
| 76 | oa | ||
| 77 | (?:ai|ay) | ||
| 78 | (?:oi|oy) | ||
| 79 | (?:aw|au) | ||
| 80 | ew | ||
| 81 | ie(?:$| ) | ||
| 82 | ie | ||
| 83 | alk(?:$| ) | alk: l is silent (talk, walk) | |
| 84 | a(?=ll(?:$| )) | all = /ɔːl/ | |
| 85 | (?<=w)a(?=[^aeiou]) | a after w = /ɒ/ (want, wash) | |
| 86 | y(?=[aeiou]) | ||
| 87 | y | ||
| 88 | a(?:$| ) | ||
| 89 | a | ||
| 90 | e | ||
| 91 | i | ||
| 92 | o | ||
| 93 | u | ||
| 94 | [pbtdkfvszmnlhw] |