Pronunciation

Pattern Examples How they are pronounced

1. end with sound of "ot"
as in POT, NOT
1. thought, bought, fought, 2. end with sound of "uff"
brought as in STUFF
2. enough, rough, tough, 3. ends with sound of Long
slough U, as in the word THREW
or SHOE
words containing 3. through
4. end with the sound of
"ough" 4. though, although, dough,
Long O, as in NO or GO
thorough
5. ends with the sound
5. cough
"OFF
6. contain the same sound
6. bough, doughty as "COW" or "NOW"

1. byte, bite, bight 1. Long i + t

2. seen, scene 2. Long e + n
3. hear, here 3. Long e + r
4. sense, cents, scents 4. all end with the sound of
"-ENCE" or "-ENSE"
5. their, there, they're 5. Long a + r
6. feet, feat 6. Long e + t
Words that sound the
7. ate, eight 7. Long a + t
same but are spelled
differently. 8. err, heir, air 8. Long a + r
9. wheel, weal, we'll 9. Long e + L
10. you, ewe 10. Long u
11. isle, aisle, I'll 11. Long I + L
12. ale, ail 12. Long a + L

13. gnu, new, knew 13. N + Long u

Words with Silent  know, knee, knife, knit,
Letters knickers, knuckle
 psychology, psychiatrist,
pneumonia
 should, could, would
All of these words are
pronounced as if the red letters
were not there, but when you
write the words, you MUST
include those letters.
  isle, aisle, island
 wrap, wrinkle, write
 debt, doubt
 often, listen, soften, castle

1. moving air outdoors,

part of weather
2. twisting motion, as with
a clock spring
1. wind - Short i sound 3. past tense, got meaning
2. wind - Long i sound from written words
3. read - Short e sound 4. present tense of same
4. read - Long e sound verb
5. abuse - with z sound 5. verb, to injure or do
Words that look the 6. abuse - with s sound harm
same but are 7. addict - stress on ad 6. noun - injury or damage
pronounced differently. 8. addict - stress on dict 7. noun - person who acts
9. combine - stress on com compulsively
10. combine - stress on bine 8. verb - to make
dependent on
11. defect - stress on de
9. noun - a harvesting
machine
12. defect - stress on fect 10. verb - to put together
11. noun - a flaw

12. verb - to desert

1. these words have the
same Short U vowel
1. book, foot, good, hood, look,
sound
moor, poor, stood, wood
2. aloof, boom, doom, gloom, 2. these words all have a
Words with 'oo' that Long U sound
soon, bloom, broom, noon,
should sound the proof, roof, zoom 3. 'oo' = an O sound as in
same but don't. 'or', 'more'
3. floor, door

4. flood, blood 4. these words have the

same vowel sound as
'bud' and 'cud'

1. Here are some groups of words, each containing the letter on the left.
Underline the words in which the letter on the left is pronounced. The first
group has been done as an example.

K Knowledge acknowledge knot kneel knife nickname

B climbing subtle symbol numb dumb debt bribed
G campaign hungry champagne ignorance foreign
H honour exhibition rehearsal behalf exhausted ghost vehicle
honorary inherit
L behalf salmon chalk yolk yield failure palm
P psychology psychiatry couple cupboard receipt raspberry
hypnotise pseudonym
T castle attitude Christmas whistle postpone soften bright
D sandwich sadness Wednesday handkerchief second-hand

2. How do you pronounce these words? Although they’re very similar in spelling
their pronunciation is very different!!
Through
Thorough
Tough
Thought
Taught
Throughout
Though

3. Arrange these words into four groups, according to the pronunciation of the
letters gh or g. The first four are done as examples.

/g/ /dj/ /f/ [silent]

ghost giant enough high

Enough high giant ghost gesture sign signature

margarine guilty draught gypsy thorough sigh naughty
borough gymnasium generation laughter ginger George
giggle genuine engineer genius
4. Work in pairs. Look at these words that are pronounced the same but spelt
differently. Explain the difference in meaning between each pair (or group) of
words.

Band/ banned Weather/ whether Red/read right/ write

sell/cell scent/ sent/cent die/dye high/hi hire/higher
isle/I’ll/ aisle site/sight passed/past/ bored/board
colonel/kernel allowed/aloud flour/flower there/their/they’re
air/heir mayor/mare here/hear cereal/serial nose/knows
key/quay mist/missed flew/flu none/nun wood/would

5. Using stress
Notice where the main stress is placed in each of these words.
Qualified qualification
Exam examiner examination

Take it in turns to say each of these words aloud and mark the main stress in
each one.

Academy academic Lecture lecturer

Art artistic Literature literary
Biology biological Math mathematics mathematical
Botany botanical Physics physical
Chemist chemistry chemical Politics political
Consult consultation Second secondary
Economics economical economy Secretary secretarial
Educate educational Society sociology
Examine examination Special specialize specialization
Geography geographical speciality
Grammar grammatical Statistics statistical
History historical Zoology zoological