English pronunciation

Hear a difference, understand how it works, then try it yourself. Examples follow General American English; other accents can differ.

Starter, Elementary and Intermediate describe reviewed content and suggested entry points, not your proficiency or certification. Mixed practice can include harder material. Instructions are in English; this is not a complete course from zero.

New here? Read Bottle or battle?, watch its short lesson, then try the listening game. Say the words aloud if you want to; we do not record or score your voice.

Open the sound chart · Look up a word’s IPA · Watch a short demonstration

21 resources

Starter (7)

Short texts, familiar words and a single pattern or listening contrast.

Practice · Starter

English letter names

Hear one of 26 letter names and choose its written letter, with a spelling example.

Topics: Study

Practice · Starter

Minimal pairs

Hear one word from a pair such as bottle and battle, and choose the one you heard.

Topics: Everyday English

Practice · Starter

Phonics patterns

Hear a word and choose the letters that complete its sound-to-spelling pattern.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Starter

The two TH sounds: /θ/ and /ð/

Learn how to make the TH sounds in think and this, feel the difference in voicing, and avoid replacing TH with s, t, d or f.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Starter

Fourteen or forty? Hear teen and -ty numbers

Tell fourteen from forty using stress, the final n and the ending vowel. Practise teen/-ty numbers alone and inside sentences.

Topics: Time and dates, Shopping, Travel

Elementary (10)

Connected everyday language, past events and more detailed choices.

Practice · Elementary

Word stress

Hear a word and click the syllable that carries the stress: PHO-to-graph or pho-TOG-ra-pher?

Topics: Everyday English, Study

Practice · Elementary

Listen and repeat

Pause, replay and loop recorded English sentences for independent repetition without a microphone.

Topics: Everyday English, Work, Food, Home, Travel

Practice · Elementary

Number dictation

Hear a number and type it: fourteen or forty? Then prices, times and years the way Americans say them.

Topics: Travel, Shopping, Time and dates

Guide · Elementary

Word stress: which syllable stands out?

Find the stressed syllable in English words, read the IPA stress mark, and practise words and word families with clear examples.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Elementary

Final -s: cats, dogs and horses

Learn when the English -s ending sounds like /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/, with plurals, present-tense verbs, examples and a self-check.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Elementary

Final -ed: worked, played and wanted

Learn the three regular English past-tense -ed sounds: /t/, /d/ and /ɪd/. Practise choosing the sound and counting syllables.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Elementary

English phonetics: sounds, symbols and spelling

IPA symbols represent speech sounds more directly than ordinary English spelling. This site uses a bounded General American teaching chart.

Topics: Everyday English, Study

Guide · Elementary

Hard English sounds: practise one contrast in context

A sound is difficult when it overlaps with another category you already use. Begin with a particular contrast rather than treating your accent as a general problem.

Topics: Everyday English, Study

Guide · Elementary

Tongue twisters: accuracy before speed

A short repeated sound pattern can help you notice a contrast. It is a playful articulation task, not a test of accent quality or overall fluency.

Topics: Everyday English, Study

Intermediate (4)

Longer ideas, inference, connected speech and less familiar word patterns.

Guide · Intermediate

Connected speech: hear words inside a phrase

English words can sound different when speakers connect them. Stress, reduced vowels and neighboring sounds affect the result; these are not Mandarin tone rules.

Topics: Everyday English

Guide · Intermediate

Same spelling, different pronunciation

Some spellings have different pronunciations for different meanings or grammatical uses. A sentence supplies information that an isolated word cannot.

Topics: Everyday English

Choosing a useful next step

Choose one resource that feels manageable. Read its instructions, try the task and use the explanation to decide what to practise next. Picture-deck labels refer to the first collection; collection numbers are not proficiency levels.

A listening result describes that listening task. It does not measure speaking ability.

Choose a starting point · All practice activities · All short readers · All guides · Guided study paths