Phonetic Spelling Generator
Type an English word or sentence to get its phonetic spelling two ways: IPA, like /fəˈnɛtɪk/, and an easy respelling, like fuh-NET-ik, with the stressed syllable in capitals. US pronunciation, about 126,000 words.
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From spelling to sound, two ways
Each word is looked up in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which lists American English pronunciations as sounds with stress marks. The tool splits those sounds into syllables, then writes them out in IPA for precision and as a plain respelling for reading aloud.
- 01
Type or paste
A single word or a full sentence, up to 200 words. Punctuation is ignored.
- 02
Read both rows
IPA for the exact sounds, the respelling for a quick read. Capitals mark the stress.
- 03
Hear and copy
Play each word with your browser’s voice, or copy the whole line for notes or a script.
IPA key for American English
Letters such as b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w and z sound as they do in English and are left out.
| ipa | as in | respelling |
|---|---|---|
| ɑ | father | ah |
| æ | cat | a |
| ʌ | cup | u |
| ə | about | uh |
| ɔ | thought | aw |
| aʊ | now | ow |
| aɪ | my | y / eye |
| ɛ | bed | e |
| ɝ | bird | ur |
| ɚ | water | er |
| eɪ | day | ay |
| ɪ | sit | i |
| i | see | ee |
| oʊ | go | oh |
| ɔɪ | boy | oy |
| ʊ | book | uu |
| u | food | oo |
| tʃ | church | ch |
| dʒ | judge | j |
| ð | this | th |
| θ | thin | th |
| ʃ | ship | sh |
| ʒ | measure | zh |
| ŋ | sing | ng |
| j | yes | y |
| ɡ | go | g |
| r | red | r |
| ˈ | primary stress | CAPS |
| ˌ | secondary stress | — |
Pronunciation data: The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, Carnegie Mellon University, used under its BSD-style licence. The IPA and respelling are converted automatically from its ARPAbet transcriptions.
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Common questions
What is phonetic spelling?
Phonetic spelling writes a word the way it sounds instead of the way it is spelled. “Comfortable” becomes /ˈkʌmfɚtəbəl/ in IPA, or KUM-fer-tuh-bul as a plain respelling. It shows which sounds to make and which syllable to stress, which ordinary English spelling often hides.
What is the difference between IPA and a respelling?
IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet) uses one symbol per sound, so it is exact and works for any language, but you need to learn the symbols. A respelling uses ordinary letter combinations like “ay”, “ee” and “oo”, so anyone can read it at once, but it is less precise: “th” stands for both the sound in “thin” and the one in “this”.
Is this American or British pronunciation?
American. The pronunciations come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which records General American English. British English differs in places: “water” is /ˈwɔːtə/ in standard British pronunciation, without the final r, and words like “bath” and “tomato” have a different vowel.
How is stress shown?
In IPA, the mark ˈ goes before the syllable with the main stress and ˌ before a syllable with secondary stress, as in /ˌɪntɚˈnæʃənəl/. In the respelling, the main stressed syllable is in capitals: in-ter-NASH-uh-nul. One-syllable words are written in capitals on their own.
What happens with words that are not in the dictionary?
Names, brands and new words may be missing. The tool then tries to read the word as two dictionary words joined together, or makes a guess from the spelling, and labels the result “guess”. Treat guesses as a starting point, not an answer.
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Saying it right is half of it
Phonetic spelling helps you pronounce one word. OmniTalk helps with the whole conversation: it translates your speech in real time on iPhone across 60+ languages, works offline, and its Split Ears mode lets two people share a pair of earbuds and each hear their own language.
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