What are phonograms?
Phonograms are groups of letters that represent specific sounds. For example, the -igh phonogram often represents the long “i” sound, so “high” is pronounced the same as “hi.”
Why practice pronunciation with phonograms?
Phonograms can help you see patterns in the relationship between English pronunciation and spelling. They also help you practice the same sound with different sounds before it (like cat, rat, fat, bat, etc.)
What about exceptions?
Many students complain that English spelling and pronunciation is so irregular. It’s true – for example, –ough can be pronounced five different ways! In Part 1 of this lesson, we’ll learn the 36 most common basic phonograms, and in Parts 2 and 3 we’ll learn more advanced phonograms and exceptions.
Ready? Let’s go!
Pronunciation Practice
-ack
attack, back, crack, snack, track, unpack
-ail
fail, mail, tail, trail, railroad, sailboat
-ain
main, rain, plain, Spain, train
-ake
bake, cake, make, earthquake, snake
-ame
came, game, name, same, flame
-an
can, fan, ran, plan, tan
-ank
bank, drank, thank, sank
-ap
map, nap, clap, strap, wrap
-ash
cash, crash, rash, mash
-at
cat, hat, rat, flat, that
-ate
ate, hate, late, plate, state
-aw
law, jaw, raw, draw
-ay
day, may, say, stay, play
-eat
meat, beat, seat, cheat, repeat
-ell
bell, sell, tell, smell, yell
-est
best, guest, rest, chest
-ice
ice, rice, nice, slice, twice
-ick
kick, pick, quick, thick, trick
-ide
ride, wide, pride, slide
-ight
light, night, right, flight, bright
-ill
bill, fill, will, skill, still
-in
in, skin, thin, twin
-ine
fine, mine, nine, shine
-ing
king, ring, spring, thing, bring
-ink
pink, sink, drink, stink, think
-ip
lip, rip, chip, trip, skip
-it
hit, fit, sit, quit, split
-ock
rock, sock, clock, shock, knock
-oke
joke, broke, smoke, spoke, woke
-op
top, drop, shop, stop, crop
-ore
more, wore, score, shore, store
-ot
got, lot, not, shot, plot
-uck
duck, stuck, truck
-ug
bug, hug, drug, shrug, thug
-ump
bump, dump, jump, pump
-unk
junk, sunk, shrunk, trunk
