Most consonants(13) are pronounced only one way, but there are a few exceptions. Here are three common exceptions.

Each vowel (“a”, “e”, “i”, “o”, “u”) has several possible pronunciations.

Look at the word “ferret”again. What phonetic symbol is used to represent the first consonant sound in the word? It is an “f”and has the same sound as in fish. What sound does the first “e” in “ferret” make? The symbol looks like this: e and the pronunciation guide shows that it is pronounced like the “e” in “bed”. Say the word “bed” and listen to the sound the “e” makes. This is the sound the first “e” makes. Look at the next letter, an “r”. This consonant has only one sound, as in red or car.

What sound does the second “e” make? The upside-down “e” symbol “?” represents a very common sound in English. Say the words garden, ago, banana and listen to the sounds the the darkened vowels make. This is the sound represented by the “?”. It sounds a bit like “uh”. The last phonetic symbol is “t” and it has only one sound like in top or pot.

13all letters in the alphabet except "a", "e", "i", "o" and "u"