The English Alphabet

The English alphabet is the foundation of the language, with 26 letters from A to Z. 

This post will fill you in on the essentials, including how to pronounce each letter of the alphabet, what vowels and consonants are and example vocabulary for each letter. With resources too for practice, you’ll be on your way to building a strong foundation for English conversation.

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Letters of the English Alphabet

The English alphabet has 26 letters. Here is the whole alphabet in order and how to name each letter:

Uppercase letter	Lowercase letter	Name
A	a	Ay
B	b	Bee
C	c	Cee
D	d	Dee
E	e	Ee
F	f	Eff
G	g	Gee
H	h	Ay-tch
I	i	Eye
J	j	Jay
K	k	Kay
L	l	Ell
M	m	Em
N	n	En
O	o	Oh
P	p	Pee
Q	q	Cue
R	r	Are
S	s	Ess
T	t	Tee
U	u	You
V	v	Vee
W	w	Double-you
X	x	Ex
Y	y	Why
Z	z	Zee

Each letter in the alphabet has two forms. The big ones are uppercase letters and the small ones are lowercase letters. Even though these look different sometimes, like B/b, they are the same letter.

Use uppercase for the first letter in a sentence and for the first letter in names of people and places.

English Vowels and Consonants 

There are five vowels and twenty-one consonants.

The vowels are: A, E, I, O, and U. These are open sounds that you make when the airstream in your mouth flows freely. 

On the other hand, the consonants are: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z. With consonants, your tongue or lips are placed in a certain way so some of the air from your mouth is blocked.  

One interesting letter is Y because it can be both a vowel or consonant, depending on the word. For example, in “gym,” it’s a vowel, while in “yellow,” it’s more of a consonant. 

How to Pronounce Each Letter

Each letter in the English alphabet can have different sounds.

To give you an idea, here’s a list of example vocabulary for each letter. Pay attention to their different sounds:

Letter	Example Words
A	Apple	Ape	Art
B	Balloon	Boom	Bite
C	City	Cave	Coat
D	Door	Dive	Dance
E	Eagle	Elephant	Eel
F	Fall	Find	Four
G	Game	Girl	Giant
H	Horse	Hand	Hill
I	Ice	Illness	Interesting
J	Joke	Jug	Jam
K	Kid	Keep	Kite
L	Lion	Learn	Language
M	Mom	Mad	Mouse
N	Never	Noise	Nap
O	Octopus	Ocean	Order
P	Pink	Park	Panda
Q	Queen	Quail	Quit
R	Rabbit	Read	Roll
S	Soft	Super	Sad
T	Turtle	Table	Tall
U	Under	Unicorn	Use
V	Vase	Violin	Very
W	Water	Wet	Win
X	Exit	Extra	Axe
Y	Yes	You	Yard
Z	Zebra	Zipper	Zap

Here’s a video that also tells you the letter and how to pronounce it. It also gives you examples of words that start with each letter.

The pronunciation above is for American English, but letters sometimes sound different if you are learning British English instead. This video compares both–you’ll hear the letter said in a British accent first, then next an American accent.

Letters can even be combined to make their own unique sounds:

• Consonant clusters consist of two or more consonants that appear together in a word without a vowel in between them. Examples: street , black , land
• Vowel clusters put together two or more vowels. Examples: team , boil , moon
• Silent Letters: English has many words with letters that are not pronounced. Examples: knife , write , doubt  

How to Remember the Alphabet

Alphabet Songs

As kids, native English speakers learn a song to remember the alphabet. Here is “The ABC Song”:

Here is another fun song to help you learn the English alphabet:

Rhyming Letters

Now, try to notice letters that rhyme with other letters. This means that some letters sound like each other.

For example:

• A, J and K all end with the sound “ay”
• B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V and Z all end with the sound “ee”
• Q, U and W all end with the sound “u”

Here are a few more letters that sound similar to each other:

• F, L, M, N, S and X all start with a soft “e” sound
• Y sounds like I, but with a “w” sound at the beginning

You just have to remember H, O and R!

Other Creative Methods 

• Make your own alphabet song. Sing the letters to the music of your favorite song. Or, make a song by yourself with the letters of the alphabet.
• Use words to remember the letters. Try to write a story with 26 words. Each word will start with the next letter of the alphabet. The story doesn’t need to make sense! For example: After breakfast, cats destroyed everything. Fish, games, household items… Jealous kittens love messes!
• Make flashcards. These might contain words that use the same letter but sound different. Here is an example.
• Practice with worksheets for writing. This worksheet will help you learn to write the English alphabet, including uppercase and lowercase letters. Here’s another worksheet for tracing the letters.

 

Learning the alphabet is a very important step for learning English. Great work! Soon, you will be singing the ABCs like a natural. 

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)