LISTEN

/w/…/w/…/w/…/w/

wait…win…twice…away

WHAT IS IT?

Pronunciation:
The sound /w/ is a voiced, bilabial glide.

Make a tight circle with your lips and pull your tongue back. Your tongue should not touch any other part of your mouth.
Open your lips quickly while moving your tongue forward and pushing air out of your mouth.
Your vocal cords should vibrate.

Note: Some English speakers may pronounce /w/ as a voiceless sound in words with a “wh” spelling, like which, why, and where.

The sound /w/ is in these clusters:

BEGINNING OF A SYLLABLE‘

/kw/ (“qu”) – quick
/sw/ (“sw”) – switch
/tw/ (“tw”) – twice
/dw/ (“dw”) – dwell
/skw/ (“squ”) – square

END OF A SYLLABLE

(none)

Spelling:

“w” – win, switch
“wh” – white, when
“u” – quit, persuade

Grammar Tip:
Most “wh-” question words in English begin with /w/:

When
Where
Why
Which

However, a few “wh-” question words begin with /h/:

Who
Whose
How

COMPARE

Compare /w/ with /v/:

/w/…/v/…/w../v/…/w/…/v/

Both /w/ and /v/ are voiced consonants that involve lip movement. However, /w/ is a bilabial glide, and /v/ is a labiodental consonant. When you pronounce /w/, your lips should form a circle and move to an open position, without touching your teeth. However, when you pronounce /v/, your upper teeth should rub against your lower lip.

You can hear the difference between /w/ and /v/ in these words.

1. A. wet, B. vet
2. A. went, B. vent
3. A. wine, B. vine
4. A. west, B. vest
5. A. wheel, B. veal
6. A. wary, B. very

Practice recognizing words with /w/ and /v/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

Now, compare /w/ with /b/:

/w/…/b/…/w/…/b/…/w/…/b/

These are both voiced bilabial consonants. However, /w/ is a glide and /b/ is a stop. When you pronounce /w/, your lips should not touch each other and the air in your mouth should not stop.

You can hear the difference between /w/ and /b/ in these words.

1. A. wed, B. bed
2. A. white, B. bite
3. A. what, B. but
4. A. await, B. abate
5. A. rewind, B. rebind
6. A. wobble, B. bauble

Practice recognizing words with /w/ and /b/ by taking the quiz here (external site).

PRACTICE

Listen and repeat these words:

1. what
2. way
3. win
4. word
5. switch
6. twice
7. dwell
8. queen
9. weather
10. whisper

11. waterfall
12. away
13. unwise
14. rewind
15. between
16. require
17. unswerving
18. underwater
19. aware
20. westward

Now, practice /w/ in sentences. Say the words first, then the sentences.

1. weather – will – wet
The weather will be very wet tomorrow.
2. what – want – watch
What do you want to watch this evening?
3. working – whisper – quietly
Other people are working, so please whisper quietly.
4. quick – walk – between
I often take a quick walk between classes.
5. sweater – will – warm – winter
A sweater will keep you warm in winter.
6. were – aware – requirements
Were you aware of the requirements?

To practice with different varieties of English, choose another native English speaker by clicking one of the links below:

Male – US Midwest (St. Louis)

Male – US Midwest (Iowa)

Male – US Midwest

Female – US Northeast

Female – US Southeast

USE IT

Practice the task below. Then, record yourself completing that task. Give your recording to a teacher or an English-speaking friend for feedback.

Prepare:
If you could have 3 wishes given to you, what would you wish for?

To switch places with a famous person
To visit a waterfall
To be the wisest person in the world
To be wealthy
To swim in the ocean
To always have good weather
To win a world championship game
To live twice as long as anyone else
To live in a different world
To never need to work
To be able to breathe underwater
To remove all your bad qualities
To have a twin
To have peace between people that you love
To have wings and fly like a bird

Record:
In your recording, describe your 3 wishes and explain why you wish for these things.

Home

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.