Practical Phonetics Exercises with KEY - Vowels, Diphthongs, and Pronunciation Tasks

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Jake

Practical phonetics exercises with an answer key focusing on English vowel sounds and diphthongs. Tasks include identifying which words contain specific vowel phonemes, selecting odd-one-out words with different sounds, and grouping words by underlined pronunciations. Learners complete pronunciation tables that require ticking one or multiple correct sound categories, fill in blanks using homophone-like phonetic differences, and classify irregular verb past-ed endings by /t/, /d/, or /id/.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Vowels and Diphthongs

Vowels /i:/

Vowels /e/ and /a:/

Vowels /a:/ and /æ/

Vowels /ɒ/ and /s:/

Vowels /ʊ/ and /u:/

Diphthongs

Pronunciation Tasks

Put words into boxes by the underlined sound

Odd one out: circle the different sound

Fill in the blanks with a word with a different phonetic sound

Group words by underlined sounds

Identify vowel sounds in each word and tick boxes

Identify vowel groups each word belongs to

Identify diphthong sounds and tick boxes

Find homophones of given words

Tick the correct box for irregular verbs by -ed ending sound

Vowels and Diphthongs # 1.Vowels /i:/// Which of the following words include these sounds? /i:/ keep-night-lit -late -fry /I/ feet-sit-night-keen-sigh # 2.Vowels /e//a//3:/ Which of the following words include these sounds?le/ gate-feel-bell-grass-fadelə/ book -street-name-father -sun /3:/ feed-bad-food-fate-bird # 3.Vowels /a://A//æ/ Which of the following words include these sounds?/a:/water-night-cat-stars-paper/A/ fat-bet-look-food-cutlæ/late-cat-laugh-best-tea / # 4.Vowels /n//s:/ Which of the following words include these sounds?/D/ room-dog-card-word-soil/s:/ father-glass -law-hot-world # 5.Vowels lo//u:/ Which of the following words include these sounds? lo/ cut-work-love-food-book /u:/food-luck-lost-burn-first # 6.Diphthongs Which of the following words include these diphthongs? /ei/feed-bed-food-fight -say /ax/said-read-high-food-says /r/should-boy-though-blood-so /əu/through -there -here-so-hot /au/now-hair-face-tour-lower /re/there-seed-hair-late-here /eə/there-say-get-first-shoulder luəl tower-tour-two-tooth -hand 心 / # Pronunciation Tasks 1.Put the following words into the corect box according to the underlined sound.Use adictionary to check your answers. should flew sleep saw flood asleep turn steam shirt path busy bread flat poor heart cough hot wood said shoe does teacher system stamp | sheep/i:/ | | bed /el | | father /a:/ | bird /:/ | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | sleep | | | | | | | pot/n/ | | put /o/ | boot /u:/ | cut /A/ | | | | | | | | | (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. breadhead 1.deadmean 2.fruitsuitjuicebuilt 3.halfhavehasham4.horsehistorystorycord 5.lookgoodfootblood6.countryyoungyouthcouple 7.ovencoloursongone 8.talkchalkcalmfall / 3.Fill in the blanks with the word which has got a different phonetic sound. 1.heartnothinglovecome 2.birdwordbedearth 3.lookpoolfullfoot 4.dogfoxcoughcaught 5.nowvoiceoutCOw 6.ideavolunteerswhere near 7.hear 1beerchair year 8.enjoy boypointbrown 9.asked lookedworried hooked 10.goes introduceslosesdresses ## 4.Group the following words according to the underlined sounds. eachbluetrayflightworryhouse straw turn sillyfoundlearncaughtillquitejustfreeeight Junebeeuglysoupsixtyshirtoughttalebicycle mouse | /u:/ | | | /A/ | | | /3:/ | /3:/ | hi/ | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | 5.Identify the vowel sounds in each word and tick(√)the correct box.For some words,youwill have to tick two boxes. | Words | le/ | /n/ | lo/ | /i:/ | IN | /1 | /ɔ/ | /æ/ | 15:/ | /a:/ | /3:/ | /u:/ | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | bring | | | | | | | | | | | | | | box | | | | | | | | | | | | | | artist | | | | | | | | | | | | | | mother | | | | | | | | | | | | | | stamp | | | | | | | | | | | | | | daughter | | | | | | | | | | | | | | thirdly | | | | | | | | | | | | | | sugar | | | | | | | | | | | | | | breakfast | | | | | | | | | | | | | | blue | | | | | | | | | | | | | | police | | | | | | | | | | | | | | woman | | | | | | | | | | | | | ## 7.Which groups do these words belong to? video: shirt: wine: kind: dirty: write: Italy: ## 8.Which groups do these words belong to? grandmother: tomato: man: ball: park: are: cathedral: tall: half: bad: ## 6.Identify the diphthong sounds in each word and tick(√)the correct box. | Words | /ao/. | /ar/ | /eə/ | ləu/ | /ɔr/ | loəl | /er/ | /rə/ | | --- | ---

FAQs

How do the exercises ask you to identify vowel sounds?

Learners match words to specific vowel phonemes, then complete tables by ticking the correct boxes (sometimes needing more than one tick for a word).

What kinds of diphthong activities are included?

Students identify diphthong sounds in given words by ticking the correct category in provided tables and grouped lists.

How are irregular verbs evaluated in the -ed ending section?

Each verb is categorized by how its -ed is pronounced, selecting the correct ending sound box: /t/, /d/, or /id/.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Jake