Phonetics.

Phonetics alphabet examples of sounds.

The international phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system where each symbol is associated with a particular English sound.By using IPA you can know exactly how to pronounce a certain word in English. This helps in improving English pronunciation and feeling more confident speaking in English. 

Here are examples of IPA use in common English words. 

International Phonetic Alphabet sounds in everyday speech

Short Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
e	Went, intend, send, letter.
æ	Cat, hand, nap, flat, have.
ʌ	Fun, love, money, one, London, come.
ʊ	Put, look, should, cook, book, look.
ɒ	Rob, top, watch, squat, sausage.
ə	Alive, again, mother.

Long Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
i:	Need, beat, team.
ɜ:	Nurse, heard, third, turn.
ɔ:	Talk, law, bored, yawn, jaw.
u:	Few, boot, lose, gloomy, fruit, chew.
ɑ:	Fast, car, hard, bath.

Diphthong Vowels

IPA Symbol	Word examples
ɪə	Near, ear, clear, tear, beer, fear
eə	Hair, there, care, stairs, pear
eɪ	Face, space, rain , case, eight
ɔɪ	Joy, employ, toy, coil, oyster.
aɪ	My, sight, pride, kind, flight
əʊ	No, don’t, stones, alone, hole
aʊ	Mouth, house, brown, cow, out

Consonants Sounds: Fricatives

IPA Symbol	Word examples
f	Full, Friday, fish, knife.
v	Vest, village, view, cave.
θ	Thought, Think, Bath.
ð	There, those, brothers, others.
z	Zoo, crazy, lazy, zigzag, nose.
ʃ	Shirt, rush, shop, cash.
ʒ	Television, delusion, casual
h	High, help, hello.

Consonants Sounds: Plosives

IPA Symbol	Word examples
p	Pin, cap, purpose, pause.
b	Bag, bubble, build, robe.
t	Time, train, tow, late.
d	Door, day, drive, down, feed.
k	Cash, quick, cricket, sock.
g	Girl, green, grass, flag.

Consonants Sounds: Affricates

IPA Symbol	Word examples
ʈʃ	Choose, cheese, church, watch.
dʒ	Joy, juggle, juice, stage.

Consonants Sounds: Nasals

IPA Symbol	Word examples
m	Room, mother, mad, more.
n	Now, nobody, knew, turn.
ŋ	King, thing, song, swimming.

Consonants Sounds: Approximants

IPA Symbol	Word examples
r	Road, roses, river, ring, ride.
j	Yellow, usual, tune, yesterday, yard.
w	Wall, walk, wine, world.
l and ɫ	Law, lots, leap, long, pill, cold, chill, melt