Practical
Phonetics
Exercises
for Bachillerato
Practical Phonetics Exercises for Bachillerato
Burlington Books
P.O. Box 54411
3721 Limassol
Cyprus
Burlington Books is an imprint of the Burlington Group.
Thanks to Azucena Bonafonte, IES Siberia Extremeña
IH-013-257
Copyright © 2018 Burlington Books
Vowels
Vowel n. 1: /A/
Words: these need sea
cheese please free
Vowel n. 2: /B/
Words: English is big
this women live
Vowel n. 3: /e/
Words: ten pen friend
bed send next
Vowel n. 4: /æ/
Words: man ham map
cat apple than
Vowel n. 5: /E/
Words: arm car bar
father glass star
Vowel n. 6: /J/
Words: young cut welcome
run love sun
Vowel n. 7: /F/
Words: shop watch odd
dog hot wrong
Vowel n. 8: /G/
Words: abroad tall horse
water sport talk
Vowel n. 9: /H/
Words: put book rook
look foot full
Vowel n. 10: /I/
Words: blue moon truth
shoe tooth school
Vowel n. 11: /L/
Words: freedom woman occasion
winter father together
Vowel n. 12: /K/
Words: girl world word
first work church
Diphthongs
Diphthong n. 1: /CB/
Words: lake Spain play
late cake day
Diphthong n. 2: /N/
Words: clothes home road
old go stone
Diphthong n. 3: /O/
Words: time knife right
eye write wine
Diphthong n. 4: /P/
Words: ground cow house
mouse mouth down
Diphthong n. 5: /Q/
Words: boy toy choice
voice noise point
Diphthong n. 6: /BL/
Words: idea theatre dear
career ear weird
Diphthong n. 7: /CL/
Words: bear share air
wear fair hair
Diphthong n. 8: /HL
Words: / poor sewer
tour
sure jewel cure
Chart: English Vowel Sounds
Vowels Short Vowels Long Vowels Diphthongs
a /æ/ /E/ /O/, /P/
/J/
e /C/ /CL/, /CB/
i /B/ /A/ /BL/
o /F/ /G/ /Q/
u /H/ /I/ /HL/
‘schwa’ /L/ /K/ /N/
Vowels and Diphthongs
1. Vowels /A/ /B/
Which of the following words include these sounds?
/A/ keep – night – lit – late – fry
/I/ feet – sit – night – keen – sigh
2. Vowels /C/ /L/ /K/
Which of the following words include these sounds?
/C/ gate – feel – bell – grass – fade
/L/ book – street – name – father – sun
/K/ feed – bad – food – fate – bird
3. Vowels /E/ /J/ /æ/
Which of the following words include these sounds?
/E/ water – night – cat – stars – paper
/J/ fat – bet – look – food – cut
/æ/ late – cat – laugh – best – tea
4. Vowels /F/ /G/
Which of the following words include these sounds?
/F/ room – dog – card – word – soil
/G/ father – glass – law – hot – world
5. Vowels /H/ /I/
Which of the following words include these sounds?
/H/ cut – work – love – food – book
/I/ food – luck – lost – burn – first
6.Diphthongs
Which of the following words include these diphthongs?
/CB/ feed – bed – food – fight – say
/O/ said – read – high – food – says
/Q/ should – boy – though – blood – so
/N/ through – there – here – so – hot
/P/ now – hair – face – tour – lower
/BL/ there – seed – hair – late – here
/CL/ there – say – get – first – shoulder
/HL/ tower – tour – two – tooth – hand
Pronunciation Tasks
1. Put the following words into the correct box according to the underlined
sound. Use a dictionary to check your answers.
steam flood turn asleep sleep flew should saw
cough heart bread flat busy poor shirt path
stamp system teacher does shoe said wood hot
sheep /A/ ship /B/ bed /C/ bad /æ/ father /E/ bird /K/
sleep
pot /F/ caught /G/ put /H/ boot /I/ cut /J/ camera /L/
(Optional) Extension: Add two more words that you know for each sound. Use a dictionary to check.
2. Odd One Out. Circle the word with a different sound. Use a dictionary to check.
1. dead mean bread head
2. fruit suit juice built
3. half have has ham
4. horse history story cord
5. look good foot blood
6. country young youth couple
7. oven colour son gone
8. talk chalk calm fall
3. Fill in the blanks with the word which has got a different phonetic sound.
1. heart nothing love come
2. bird word bed earth
3. look pool full foot
4. dog fox cough caught
5. now voice out cow
6. idea volunteers where near
7. hear beer chair year
8. enjoy boy point brown
9. asked looked worried hooked
10. goes introduces loses dresses
4. Group the following words according to the underlined sounds.
each blue tray flight worry house straw turn silly
found learn caught ill quite just free eight June
bee ugly soup sixty shirt ought tale bicycle mouse
/I/ /CB/ /O/ /J/ /A/ /P/ /G/ /K/ /B/
5. Identify the vowel sounds in each word and tick (✔) the correct box. For some
words, you will have to tick two boxes.
Words /C/ /F/ /H/ /A/ /J/ /B/ /L/ /æ/ /G/ /E/ /K/ /I/
bring
box
artist
mother
stamp
daughter
thirdly
sugar
breakfast
blue
police
woman
6. Identify the diphthong sounds in each word and tick (✔) the correct box.
Words /P/ /O/ /CL/ /N/ /Q/ /HL/ /CB/ /BL/
theatre
care
security
mountain
lake
nose
height
choice
7. Which groups do these words belong to?
video: tie: rich:
shirt: sit: cry:
wine: skirt: river:
kind: why: build:
dirty: like: might:
write: live: ship:
Italy: life: five:
8. Which groups do these words belong to?
grandmother: apple: talk:
tomato: dawn: have:
man: happy: walk:
ball: hand: sat:
park: start: hat:
are: again: can:
cathedral: bank: ask:
tall: dark: dance:
half: war: warm:
bad: March:
9. Find the homophones of these words. Use a dictionary if necessary.
flou sell night aisle-I’ll hear knows
r mined red son wood dear
bare their-they’re brake passed aloud whether
die
1. read 7. dye 13. cell
2. weather 8. break 14. nose
3. here 9. allowed 15. past
4. would 10. mind 16. there
5. flower 11. isle 17. deer
6. bear 12. sun 18. knight
Remember!
Homophones are those words which sound the same, but have got different spelling and meanings.
10. Tick (✔) the correct box for each irregular verb according to its -ed ending.
Verbs /W/ /X/ /BX/
worked
lived
stopped
counted
targeted
paid
listened
watched
painted
performed
repeated
helped
asked
printed
warned
Remember!
The /d/ sound follows a vowel or a voiced consonant. The /BX/ sound follows a /W/ or /X/ sound
at the end of a word. The /t/ sound generally follows a voiceless consonant such as ch, sh, x, k, ss
and p.
11. Tick (✔) the correct box for each word so that the final -s sound matches its
phoneme. Use a dictionary if necessary.
Words /g/ /h/ /Bh/
watches
houses
cars
looks
knives
baths
handkerchiefs
boxes
keys
envelopes
boys
wishes
walks
glasses
studies
works
jobs
practises
Remember!
Sometimes when we add an -s to make the third person of the Present Simple, or a plural, it may
be pronounced in one of three ways. If the final syllable ends in a voiced sound, the /z/ sound is
pronounced. If the final syllable ends in a voiceless sound, it is the sound /s/. However, if the final
letter is a consonant such as ch, sh, x or ss (sibilant letters), you have to pronounce it /Bh/.
IH-013-257
