English consonants come in pairs. In each pair the mouth does the same thing, but one sound uses your voice and the other does not. Many mistakes in English come from mixing up the two.
Voiced or voiceless?
Touch your throat and say a long sssss, then a long zzzzz. With zzzzz you feel a buzz: that is a voiced sound. With sssss you feel nothing: voiceless.
| Voiceless | Voiced | Example pair |
|---|---|---|
| /p/ | /b/ | pack – back |
| /t/ | /d/ | tie – die |
| /k/ | /ɡ/ | coat – goat |
| /f/ | /v/ | fan – van |
| /s/ | /z/ | sue – zoo |
| /θ/ | /ð/ | teeth – teethe |
| /ʃ/ | /ʒ/ | pressure – pleasure |
| /tʃ/ | /dʒ/ | cheap – jeep |
Why it matters: the same idea decides how -ed and -s endings sound. See -ed Pronunciation.
Sort: /θ/ or /ð/
Which “th” is it?
The letters th make two different sounds. Drag each word to the sound it has. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap a box.
Words to sort: think, thank, three, mouth, bath, tooth, birthday, month, this, that, mother, weather, brother, breathe, other, together. /θ/ as in think; /ð/ as in this.
Word bank
/θ/as in think
/ð/as in this