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American IPA

Explore the blueprint of English pronunciation.
Compare
Same sound, different spellings
Dictionaries disagree: r vs ɹ, iː vs i, er vs ɚ — all the same sounds. Tap any sound to see its other spellings.
Computers use ALL-CAPS codes for the same sounds (ARPABET, e.g. SH = /ʃ/). Its number marks stress: ER0 = unstressed er (teacher), ER1 = stressed er (bird).

Vowels

12
ɛ
red
i
green
ɪ
pink
u
blue
ʊ
wood
ə
sofa
ɑ
father
ɔ
law
ɝ
bird
æ
sand
ɚ
teacher
ʌ
sun

Diphthongs

6
oʊ
gold
ɔɪ
boy
eɪ
jade
aɪ
lime
aʊ
brown
ju
unicorn

Consonants

30
t
turtle
d
dog
f
frog
s
snake
θ
panther
ð
feather
p
pig
ɡ
goat
b
bear
v
beaver
k
cat
h
horse
m
mouse
n
dinosaur
ŋ
penguin
w
wolf
j
yak
ɹ
rabbit
tʃ
chicken
dʒ
giraffe
z
zebra
ʃ
sheep
ʒ
television
ɫ
bell
l
leaf
ʔ
uh-oh
ɾ
better
n̩
button
l̩
bottle
m̩
rhythm
Watch every sound
Watch mouth close-ups from Rachel's English, plus real-time MRI videos of trained speakers producing each IPA sound — no need to guess from audio alone.
Rachel's English on YouTube
Free mouth close-ups for every American English sound
USC Real-Time MRI IPA Corpus
Research-grade MRI videos for each American English sound