Questions	Answer Area
1. What is Phonetics?
2. What are the three main areas of Phonetics?
3. What are the two main categories of Phonetics?
4. What is the difference between articulatory and acoustic phonetics?
5. What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
6. What are the three main components of speech?
7. What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?
8. What is the difference between a vowel and a consonant?
9. What is the difference between a long and a short vowel?
10. What is the difference between a voiced and an unvoiced sound?

Phonetics Practice Sheet

Introduction

Phonetics is the study of the sounds of language. It looks at how different sounds are made and how they are used in different languages. In this practice sheet, you will learn the basics of phonetics and practice using it.

Basics

What is a phoneme?

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language. It is the basic sound that makes up a word. For example, the English word cat has three phonemes: /k/, /æ/, and /t/.

What is a syllable?

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation made up of one or more phonemes. For example, the word cat has one syllable: /kæt/.

What is a stress pattern?

A stress pattern is the way that a word's syllables are pronounced with emphasis. For example, the word cat has a primary stress on the first syllable: /ˈkæt/.

Practice

Exercise 1

Identify the phonemes in the following words:

Answer: /d/, /ɒ/, /g/

apple

Answer: /æ/, /p/, /əl/

elephant

Answer: /ɛ/, /l/, /ə/, /f/, /ɑː/, /nt/

Exercise 2

Identify the syllables in the following words:

Answer: /dɒg/

apple

Answer: /æpəl/

elephant

Answer: /ɛləfɑːnt/

Exercise 3

Identify the stress patterns in the following words:

Answer: /ˈdɒg/

apple

Answer: /ˈæpəl/

elephant

Answer: /ɛˈləfɑːnt/

Free Printable Worksheets for learning Phonetics at the Middle School level

Phonetics Quiz