English to IPA: phonetic transcription with audio

Type an English word or sentence to get its transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in British and American English, with stress marks. Listen to it, then record yourself: the AI scores every word and every sound.

  • British and American IPA, with every listed pronunciation
  • Audio for a word or a whole sentence
  • Record yourself for a score on each sound — free, no sign-up

American transcriptions come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; British ones from Britfone (about 16,000 of the most frequent words). When there is no British entry, only the American one is shown.

How to read IPA transcription

A transcription is written between slashes: /θɔːt/. Each symbol is one sound, not one letter — thought has seven letters but three sounds.

The mark ˈ comes before the stressed syllable: /kəmˈpjuːtə/. The mark ˌ shows secondary stress in long words: /ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən/. One-syllable words carry no mark.

The colon-like ː marks a long sound. Length changes meaning in English: /ʃiːp/ (sheep) and /ʃɪp/ (ship) are different words.

British vs American transcription

What changesWordBritishAmerican
r after a vowelcar/kɑː//kɑːr/
The vowel in hot, doghot/hɒt//hɑːt/
The vowel in go, homego/ɡəʊ//ɡoʊ/
Unstressed -erwater/ˈwɔːtə//ˈwɔːtɚ/
The vowel in birdbird/bɜːd//bɝːd/
near, hairhair/heə//her/

English IPA chart: the 44 sounds

Every sound of English with example words and how to make it. Tap a word to hear it; “practice” opens a page of words for that sound.

Vowels and diphthongs

  • /iː/
    seetree

    Long, lips spread. Keep it apart from short ɪ: sheep vs ship. practice →

  • /ɪ/
    sitship

    Short and relaxed, tongue a little lower than for iː. practice →

  • /e/
    bedten

    Short, mouth half open.

  • /æ/
    catman

    Mouth wide open, between “a” and “e”; man must not sound like men. practice →

  • /ʌ/
    cuplove

    Short, central, lips relaxed.

  • /ɑː/
    carfather

    Long, open, tongue pulled back.

  • /ɒ/
    hotdog

    Short, open, lips slightly rounded. British only; American uses /ɑː/.

  • /ɔː/
    thoughtdoor

    Long, lips rounded.

  • /ʊ/
    bookput

    Short, lips loosely rounded.

  • /uː/
    foodblue

    Long, lips rounded.

  • /ɜː / ɝː/
    birdwork

    Long, central, lips neutral; r-coloured in American English. practice →

  • /ə/
    aboutsofa

    The schwa: short, neutral, unstressed — the most common vowel in English. practice →

  • /eɪ/
    dayname

    Glide from e to ɪ.

  • /aɪ/
    mytime

    Glide from a to ɪ.

  • /ɔɪ/
    boycoin

    Glide from ɔ to ɪ.

  • /aʊ/
    nowhouse

    Glide from a to ʊ.

  • /əʊ / oʊ/
    gohome

    British starts from ə, American from o.

  • /ɪə/
    nearhere

    British; American /ɪr/.

  • /eə/
    haircare

    British; American /er/.

  • /ʊə/
    tourpure

    British (often /ɔː/ today); American /ʊr/.

Consonants

  • /p, t, k/
    penteacat

    Aspirated at the start of a stressed syllable: a puff of air follows.

  • /b, d, ɡ/
    baddogbig

    Voiced, also at the end of a word: bad ≠ bat.

  • /f, v/
    finevery

    Top teeth on the lower lip; v is voiced (not w). practice →

  • /θ/
    thinkthree

    Tongue tip between the teeth, no voice. practice →

  • /ð/
    thismother

    Same tongue position as θ, with voice. practice →

  • /s, z/
    seezoo

    z is voiced, including in dogs, is.

  • /ʃ/
    shefish

    Lips slightly pushed forward.

  • /ʒ/
    visionmeasure

    The voiced partner of ʃ.

  • /tʃ/
    chairmuch

    t released into ʃ.

  • /dʒ/
    jobage

    d released into ʒ.

  • /h/
    hathome

    Just breath, no friction in the throat.

  • /m, n/
    manno

    Nasals.

  • /ŋ/
    singlong

    Back of the tongue against the soft palate; no g after it in sing. practice →

  • /l/
    legball

    Clear before a vowel, dark at the end of a word. practice →

  • /r/
    redvery

    Tongue tip raised, not touching, never trilled. Silent after a vowel in British English. practice →

  • /w/
    wewindow

    Rounded lips moving into the vowel. practice →

  • /j/
    yesyou

    Like the y in yes.

FAQ

What is phonetic transcription?+

A way of writing how a word sounds, one symbol per sound. Dictionaries use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), because English spelling often does not tell you the pronunciation.

Should I learn British or American transcription?+

Pick the accent you hear most and stay with it. The main differences — r after vowels, the vowel in hot and the vowel in go — are in the table above. TonePerfect scores pronunciation against American English.

Why does a word have more than one transcription?+

Many words have more than one accepted pronunciation (either /ˈaɪðə/, /ˈiːðə/), and short function words have weak and strong forms (the /ðə/, /ðiː/). The most common one is shown first.

Where do the transcriptions come from?+

American: the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (over 120,000 words). British: Britfone (about 16,000 of the most frequent words). Symbols are converted to the notation learner’s dictionaries use (Cambridge, Oxford). A word in neither dictionary is reported as unknown, never guessed.

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