Sounds & words
English Pronunciation Trainer
40 English sounds with IPA, mouth tips and example words.
About the English Pronunciation Trainer
English has about 44 sounds (this trainer covers 40 of the common ones), and spelling is a poor guide to them. This trainer walks through the consonants, vowels and diphthongs one by one: the IPA symbol, a plain-language description of what your lips, tongue and jaw do, the usual trap for learners, and four example words.
Example words show their real IPA (American and British) and a respelling from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary and Britfone, with a syllable count, so you are looking at dictionary data, not guesses. Press Hear to listen to a recorded human-sounding voice (four to choose from, American and British), then Record to compare your attempt by ear.
Learners often practise whole words before they can hear or make the individual sounds inside them. Working sound by sound fixes that. Spend a few minutes on one or two sounds that your first language lacks, mark them as Learning, and return when you feel confident. Over weeks the Confident count becomes a map of what you have actually mastered.
How to use it
- 1Choose a sound from the chart (consonants or vowels).
- 2Read the mouth tip, then press Hear on each example word.
- 3Press Record, say the four words, and play your recording back.
- 4Mark the sound as Learning or Confident to track what you've covered.
Practice tips
- Compare your recording with the model: listen for length, buzz and puffs of air.
- Use a mirror: many sounds can be seen on the lips.
- Practice sounds in isolation, then in words, then in sentences.
- For any other word, use the Pronunciation Checker tool.
What it measures, and what it doesn’t
IPA, respelling and syllables are looked up in the CMU and Britfone dictionaries. There is no automatic scoring of your voice: you compare your recording with the model by ear.
What your browser needs: Optional: speech voices to hear words; Optional: a microphone to record yourself.
Progress is saved in your browser only. See the privacy policy.
English Pronunciation Trainer FAQ
Where does the IPA come from?
From the open CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (American) and the Britfone dictionary (British), converted to IPA. They are real dictionary entries.
Why is there no pronunciation score?
Reliable scoring needs a trained acoustic model, and we don't fake one. You get tools to hear, record and compare, which is how most teachers start.
Which accent are the voices?
There are four recorded voices: Heart and Michael speak American English, Emma and George speak British English. Tap a voice card to hear it and switch between them at any time.