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English has 5 written vowels (a,e,i,o and u), but 20 vocalic sounds: 12 vowel sounds (/i:/,/ɪ/,/e/,/æ/,/ɑ:/,/ɒ/,/ɔ:/,/ʊ/,/u:/,/ʌ/,/ɜ:/,/ə/), 8 diphthongs (centring: /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/; closing: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/; and /aʊ/, /əʊ/). Besides, 6 triphthongs (/eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/ /aʊə/, /əʊə/), and about 26 consonantal sounds.

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It depends on the dialect of English you are referring to, and can vary from 14 to 20 or more.

Basic Vowel Sounds (according to one classification scheme)

long A - day, paid, name

long E - we, seed, bean

long I - lie, fine, sigh

long O - bowl, comb, low, sew

long U (oo or yoo) - cool, moon, suit / cute, fuel, unit

short A - apple, bad, last,

short E - bed, get, head

short I - did, pin, sit

short O - body, cop, hot

short U - cut, dumb, flood

short OO - good, foot, could, put

R-shaped A - car, star

R-shaped I (usually considered long E) - near, pier

AW/OR (may include long O words in British English) - saw, lawn, caught / horse, court

R-shaped U - bird, her, heard, purr, urge

* R-shaped long A - air, pair

OI (oy)- boy, noise, point

OU (ow) - cow, sound, out

Schwa sound (eh/uh) - unstressed sound like A in about or sofa, E in fasten

*Schwa R sound (er/ur) - A in cedar, E in water

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