Tap a letter. Hear its sound. Say it back.
Most of us learned the letter names, not the sounds. So when a child starts to read, we are not sure how each sound should be said. Here is every sound we have a checked recording of, said short and clean.
Say each sound short and clean, with no extra “uh” on the end. Hold the sounds that can be held: mmm, sss, fff. Keep the quick ones, such as t, p and c, quiet and short.
Tap any button below to hear the sound. Listen first on your own. Then tap it with your child, and have them say it back.
A sound plays only when you tap a button. This page does not use a microphone, and it records nothing.
Not A to Z. The first eight sounds already make real words: at, sat, tap, pin.
sunA long hiss. You can hold it: sss.
appleMouth open, as at the start of apple. Short.
topA tiny tap of the tongue. Quiet, with no voice.
pigA small puff of air from the lips. Quiet, with no voice.
iglooAs at the start of igloo. Short.
netA hum with the tongue up behind the teeth: nnn.
mapA hum with the lips shut: mmm.
dogA quick tap of the tongue. Stop right away.
goatFrom the back of the mouth, as in goat. Stop right away.
octopusA round mouth, as at the start of octopus. Short.
catA quick click at the back of the mouth. Quiet, with no voice.
kiteThe same click as c.
eggAs at the start of egg. Short.
umbrellaAs at the start of umbrella. Short.
rugA growl you can hold: rrr.
hatA breath out, with no voice.
batLips together, then open. Quick. Stop right away.
fishA long soft blow, teeth on the lip: fff.
legTongue up, and hold it: lll.
jamQuick, as at the start of jam.
vanA long buzz, teeth on the lip: vvv.
webLips round, as at the start of web. Short.
boxTwo quick sounds together, k and s, as at the end of box.
yakAs at the start of yak. Short.
zebraA long buzz you can hold: zzz.
queenTwo letters that go together. They say k and w, as in queen.
These come later, after the single letters. Each pair of letters stands for one sound.
shipTwo letters, one sound: the quiet sound. You can hold it.
chickTwo letters, one sound, as at the start of chick. Quick.
thumbTongue between the teeth and blow, as in thumb.
ringOne sound at the end of a word, as in ring. A hum at the back of the mouth.
rainSays the name of the letter a, as in rain.
beeSays the name of the letter e, as in bee.
pieSays the name of the letter i, as in pie.
boatSays the name of the letter o, as in boat.
moonAs in moon. You can hold it.
carAs in car.
cornAs in corn.
zipperAs in her, and at the end of zipper.
cloudAs in out and cloud.
coinAs in coin.
m, s, f, l, n, r, v, z, sh
Stretch them for as long as you like. A held sound slides easily into the next one: mmmap.
t, p, c, k, h, ch
No voice at all, only air. Say them softly, almost in a whisper, and stop.
b, d, g, j
These are the hard ones. Make them as short as you can, and stop the moment the sound is out.
Why it matters: when every sound has an extra “uh” after it, a child who says the sounds of “map” cannot hear the word in them. Clean sounds make blending much easier.
We only play recordings we have checked. We have no checked recording for the second sound of th (as in this), the short oo (as in book), the letter team ue, and the sounds in saw and in chair. The letter q is heard with u, as qu.
If your child learns a sound today and has lost it by tomorrow, that has its own free check: Why can’t my child remember letter sounds? It takes about three minutes and ends with what to do tonight. Its 10-day plan is Eight Sounds That Stay.
Knows the sounds, but cannot join them into a word? Do the free blending check.
The recordings are the letter sounds published by elimu.ai under the MIT license (license). One speaker says every sound.
The name is what the letter is called: “em” for m. The sound is what it says in a word: mmm, as at the start of map. Reading uses the sounds. A child who says “em, a, pee” cannot hear the word map in it.
With an extra “uh” after each sound, the three sounds of map turn into six, and your child cannot hear the word in them. Say each sound short and clean. Hold the ones that can be held, such as mmm and sss. Keep the quick ones, such as t and p, quiet and short.
Start with a few, not all 26. We teach s, a, t and p first, then i, n, m and d, because a child can already read real words with them: at, sat, tap, pin. Bring back yesterday’s sounds before you add a new one.
They stand for the same sound, the quick click at the back of the mouth. Your child learns that one sound can be written in more than one way: cat, kite, and later duck.
No. The page only plays a sound when you tap a button. It does not use a microphone or a camera, and nothing you tap is sent anywhere.
The packs on this site are free. The One Sheet goes further: one sheet a day, made for your child from what you tell us happened.
See The One Sheet · $9.99 a month
Or try the 10-day plan: Eight Sounds That Stay, $19 one timeOr do the free 3-minute check first
