Sound-by-sound guides

Practise the sounds that matter most

Step-by-step guides to the English sounds adults find hardest. Each guide shows mouth placement, common mistakes, practice words, sound pairs and real-work sentences.

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The TH sounds (think, this)

Two sounds: a voiceless TH in think and a voiced TH in this. Both are made with the tongue between or just behind the teeth.

Open guide R

The English R

The American and Canadian English R is made without the tongue tip touching anything. The tongue bunches or curls back slightly and the lips round a little.

Open guide L

The L sound (light and dark L)

The tongue tip touches the ridge just behind your top teeth while air flows around the sides. At the end of words, the back of the tongue also lifts (the 'dark L').

Open guide V / W

V and W

V uses the top teeth on the bottom lip with voice. W uses rounded lips that don't touch the teeth.

Open guide S / Z

S and Z

Both are made with the tongue close to the ridge behind the top teeth, with a narrow stream of air. S has no voice; Z has voice.

Open guide -T -D -ED

Word endings (T, D and -ED)

Final consonants, especially T, D and the past-tense -ED, carry meaning. When they disappear, 'I worked' becomes 'I work'.

Open guide

These guides are educational speaking practice, not speech therapy. They do not diagnose or treat speech disorders. If you have ongoing concerns, talk to a qualified speech-language professional.