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Phonogram-to-Sound Chart

Courtesy of the Reading Reform Foundation

Below are 70 phonograms which represent 45 basic sounds of the English language. Also included are 2 blends represented by phonographs and 8 less frequently-used phonograms.

Phonograms which represent one sound	b	d	f	h	j	k	l	m	n
	bib	dad	fife	ha	jug	kit	lot	mum	no
	p	qu (kw)	r	t	v	w	x (ks)	z	ai (A)
	pop	quid	ruff	tick	van	wow	ax	zap	paid
	ar	au (aw)	aw	ay (A)	ci (sh)	ck (k)	dge (j)	ear (er)	ee (E)
	far	pause	saw	pay	special	tick	badge	early	bee
	eigh (A)	er	gh (g)	gn (n)	igh (I)	ir (er)	kn (n)	ng	oa (O)
	eight	her	ghost	gnat	high	first	know	sing	oar
	oe (O)	oi (oy)	or	oy	ph (f)	sh	ti (sh)	ur (er)	wh (hw)
	toe	coin	or	boy	phase	ship	ration	nurse	what
	wor (er)	wr (r)
	works	wrap
	war (or)		ue
	warm		due
Phonograms which represent two or three sounds	c (k,s)	e (e,E)	g (g,j)	i (i,I)	s (s,z)	ew (oo,U)	ow (ow, O)	si (sh, zh)	th
	cake c²ite	ebb be²	gag g²em	it I²	sit as²	grew jew²el	now sow²	session visi²on	think the
	ui (oo,U)	a (a,A, o-ah)	o (ah,O, oo)	u (u,U,oo)	y (y,i,I)	ch (ch,k,sh)	ea (E,e,A)	ed (ed,d,t)	ei (E,A,i)
	fruit jui²ce	apt A²a³ll	odd no²do³	us u²nit pu³t	yam gy²m by³	chest ch²ord ch³ef	eat hea²d stea³k	graded filled² ticked³	receive vei²n forei³gn
Phonograms which represent three or more sounds	ey (A,E,i)	ie (E,I,i)	oo (oo,u³,O)	ou (ow, O,oo,u)	ough
Phonograms which represent three or more sounds	they key² valley³	piece lie² lilie³s	boo coo²k doo³r	aloud fou²r you³variou⁴s	dough O through^{2 oo}rough^{3b uff}cough^{4b off}bough⁵t o(ah) plough⁶ ow lough⁷ (ah'k)
Rarely used phonograms	ce=sh	eu=U	pn=n	rh=r	s=sh	tch=ch	x=z	i=E
Rarely used phonograms	oce^aan	Eu^arope	pn^aeu- matic	rh^aubarb	s^aure	match^a	X^aerox^®	mosquito

^a Denotes less frequently used phonograms.

^b Denotes blends represented by phonograms.

Bold green indicates additions by the AVKO editor

Return to RRF Home Page

Sound-to-Phonogram Chart

Below are 70 phonograms which represent 45 basic sounds of the English language. Also included are 2 blends represented by phonographs and 8 less frequently-used phonograms. Arranged by sounds.

Sounds represented by one phonogram	a	b	h	l	m	p	qu	v	w
	apt	bib	ha	lot	mum	pop	quid	van	wow
	x	y	ar	ng	or	th	th²	wh
	ax	yam	far	sing	or	think	the	what	vision
Sounds represented by two phonograms	d	e	f	g	s	t	u	u³	/zh/
	dad filled²	ebb hea²d	fife phase	gag ghost	sit c²ite	tick ticked³	us variou⁴s	pu³t coo²k	visi²on treasure
	ch	ed	oy	Blends	off	uff
	chest match^a	graded	boy coin		cough⁴	rough³
Sounds represented by three phonograms	j	r	z	ow
Sounds represented by three phonograms	jug g²em badge	ruff wrap rh^aubar^a	zap as² X^aerox^®	now aloudplough⁶
Sounds represented by four or five phonograms	i	i²(I)	k	n	u² (U)	er	o(ah)
Sounds represented by four or five phonograms	it forei³gn gy²m lilies valley³	I² lie² high by³	kit tick cake ch²ord	no know gnat pn^aeu- matic	u²nit jew²el jui²ce Eu^arope	her first nurse works early	odd a³ll saw pause bough⁵t
Sounds represented by six or more phonograms	a² (A)	e² (E)	o² (O)	oo	sh
Sounds represented by six or more phonograms	A² paid pay eight they stea³k vei³n	be² bee key² eat piece receive mosquito	no² doo³r sow² oar toe fou²r dough	boot do³ grew suit through² you³	ship ch³ef ration suspension session fashion special s^aure pressure oce^aan anxious

^a Denotes less frequently used phonograms.

Bold green indicates additions by the AVKO editor

Return to RRF Home Page