What is a letter sound in reading?

A letter sound is the sound you say for a letter or group of letters when reading a word out loud. For example, the letter "s" often says /s/ as in "sun," and the letters "sh" together say /sh/ as in "ship."

Why are letter sounds important for learning to read?

Knowing letter sounds lets children match written letters to spoken sounds, which is how they sound out, or decode, new words. Strong letter sound knowledge makes it easier to read unfamiliar words and to spell words by listening for each sound.

How do I teach my child a new letter sound?

Start by saying the letter sound clearly and showing a picture or word that begins with that sound, like /m/ for "moon." Have your child repeat the sound, trace or write the letter, and find other words or objects around the house that start or end with that same letter sound.

What is a letter sound vs a letter name?

A letter name is what we call the letter, like "bee" for the letter B. A letter sound is the sound it makes in words, like /b/ in "ball." Children need both, but letter sounds are especially important when they are learning to read and spell.

What Is a Letter Sound? Definition and Examples

Letter sound explained for kids

Every letter has a sound it often says, like the letter "m" saying /m/ as in "mom." When you see letters in a word, you can say each letter sound and then blend them together to read the word. Knowing letter sounds helps you turn written words into spoken words!

Worked examples with letter sound

Example 1 (younger learners):

Look at the word "cat." Say each letter sound: "c" says /k/, "a" says /a/ (as in "apple"), and "t" says /t/. Now blend the letter sounds slowly: /k/ - /a/ - /t/. When you say them a little faster, the sounds come together as "cat."

Example 2 (older learners):

Look at the word "phone." The letters "ph" work together to make one letter sound, /f/. The letter "o" in this word says the long /o/ sound, and "ne" at the end says /n/ with a silent "e" that changes the vowel sound. So the letter sounds are /f/ - /o/ - /n/. Blended together, they make the spoken word "phone." This shows that a letter sound can come from a single letter or from a pair of letters.

Going deeper with letter sounds

As your child moves beyond simple words, letter sound knowledge grows into understanding that the same letter can have different sounds in different words. For example, "a" sounds different in "cat," "cake," and "car." Children learn common patterns that explain these changes.

Letter sounds are one part of a larger idea called a phoneme, which is the smallest sound in a word. Some phonemes are spelled with a single letter, and some with 2 letters, such as "sh" in "ship," which is a type of letter pair called a digraph.

Older students use letter sound knowledge to decode unfamiliar words in science, social studies, and literature. They also use it in reverse when spelling, breaking a spoken word into its sounds and choosing letters or letter groups to match each sound.

Common mistakes with letter sounds

Mistake: Thinking each letter always has only one letter sound, so "c" must always say /k/ and never /s/. Correction: Many letters have more than one common sound, and the word pattern helps decide which sound is correct.
Mistake: Saying the letter name instead of the letter sound when trying to read, for example saying "bee" "ay" "tee" for "bat." Correction: To decode words, children need the letter sounds (/b/ /a/ /t/), not the letter names.
Mistake: Adding extra vowel sounds to consonant letter sounds, such as saying /buh/ instead of /b/ or /tuh/ instead of /t/. Correction: Keeping consonant letter sounds short and crisp makes it much easier to blend them smoothly into words.

How letter sounds show up in everyday life

Letter sounds appear whenever your child reads or writes: on cereal boxes at breakfast, street signs in the car, game menus on a tablet, or labels on toy bins. When your child sounds out the word "play" on a sign or writes a friend's name by stretching out the sounds, they are using letter sound knowledge in a real-world way.

Related terms to explore

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What is a letter sound?