Practice dictations
Below are dictations to help train your
sensitivity to the sounds of English. Get a pen or pencil
and paper ready, connect and put on a headphone set, then
right-click on the speaker icon, then click on "Open in new
tab" to play the audio file. Write down the words you hear,
first in English orthography, then in IPA symbols. Each item
will be read twice, and a pause will be left after the
second reading. Pause or replay the file if you need more
time to think and/or write. Finally, mark the line next to
each number to reveal the answers and check your work
carefully. Give yourself five points for each correct
spelling, another five for each correct IPA transcription.
Each item must be completely
correct to earn the points; no partial points are given. Add
the points for each correct answer together to get a
percentage score on the dictation. Above 80 percent is good;
aim for 100. Getting below 80 percent on any of the quizzes
means you need more practice!
The first examples in this
series emphasize English vowels and final
stops.
Here is an example to show how it
works:
Example: 
pick
[pɪk]
(Mark the area after the speaker icon
with your mouse to reveal the answers.)
Dictation I. 1. boot [but] 2. bat [bæt]
3. bought [bɔt]
4. bet [bɛt] 5.
but [bʌt] 6. bit [bɪt] 7. bait [beɪt] 8. bot (clipped form of
"robot") [bɑt] 9. beat [bit] 10. boat [boʊt]
Dictation II.
1. head [hɛd] 2. heed [hid]
3. hide [haɪd] 4. hub [hʌb]
5. hid [hɪd] 6. who'd
[hud] 7. had [hæd] 8. hod [hɑd] 9. hoed [hoʊd]
10. hood [hʊd]
Dictation III. 1. rod [rɑd] 2. read (verb, present) [rid] 3. raid [reɪd] 4. red [rɛd]
5. rid [rɪd] 6. Sam [sæm] 7. soon [sun]
8. same [seɪm] 9.
sang [sæ̝ŋ] 10. sane
[seɪn]
Dictation IV. 1. mitt [mɪt]
2. moot [mut] 3. meet/meat/mete [mit] 4. moat/mote [moʊt] 5. met [mɛt] 6.
mat/Matt [mæt] 7.
mushy/mooshy ['mʊʃi]
8. mate [meɪt] 9. might/mite [maɪt] 10. mutt/mut [mʌt]
Dictation V. 1. lit [lɪt ̚ ] 2. lead [lid]
3. lid [lɪd] 4. late [leɪt ̚ ] 5. let [lɛt ̚ ] 6. lout [laʊt ̚ ] 7. led/lead (mineral) [lɛd]
8. loiter ['lɔɪɾɚ] 9. loud [laʊd]
10. loot/lute [lut ̚ ]
Dictation VI. 1. nook [nʊk
̚ ] 2. knack [næk ̚ ] 3. nog [nɑg] 4. nuke [nuk ̚ ] 5. nag [næ̝g] 6. nick/Nick [nɪk ̚ ] 7.
nab [næb] 8. neck [nɛk ̚ ] 9. nap/Knapp [næp ̚ ] 10. knock [nɑk ̚ ]
Dictation VII. 1. whack/wack [wæk
̚ ] 2. what [wʌt ̚ ] 3. wig [wɪ̝g] 4. wag [wæ̝g] 5. wit [wɪt ̚ ] 6.
whip [wɪp ̚ ]
7. wet [wɛt ̚ ] 8.
web [wɛb] 9. wick [wɪk ̚ ] 10. wad [wɑd]
Dictation VIII. 1. ate/eight [eɪt ̚ ] 2. ache [eɪk ̚ ] 3. at [æt ̚ ] 4. et/ate (conservative British pronunciation) [ɛt ̚ ] 5. ape [eɪp ̚ ] 6.
ick [ɪk ̚ ] 7. eat [it ̚ ] 8. it [ɪt ̚ ] 9. app (abbreviation for "[software] application")
[æp ̚ ] 10.
eke/eek [ik ̚ ]
Dictation from test on
Ladefoged/Johnson, ch. 1, 10/22/2012:
Dictation IX. 1.
sang [sæ̝ŋ] 2. sun/son [sʌn] 3.
seen/scene [sin]
4. sat [sæt]
5. sup [sʌp]
6. soot [sʊt]
7. said [sɛd]
8. sawed [sɔd]
9. sing [sɪŋ] 10. sane [seɪn]
Dictation X. (finetuning: taps and vowel
length) 1.
other ['ʌðɚ] 2.
utter ['ʌɾɚ] 3.
udder ['ʌ:dɚ]
4. otter ['ɑɾɚ]
5. odder ['ɑ:dɚ]
Dictation XI. (vowels
and nasal finals) 1.
rain/reign [ɹeɪn] 2. rang
[ɹæŋ] 3. wrong [ɹɔŋ] 4. wren [ɹɛn]
5.
ring/wring [ɹɪŋ] 6. rune [ɹun]
7. ran [ɹæn] 8. rung/wrung [ɹʌŋ] 9. Ron [ɹɑn]
10.
run [ɹʌn]
(velar raising is not marked due to
technical difficulties)
Tricky vowel contrasts and velar vs. alveolar
final practice sets:
1. tong tongue tang tan ton [tɔŋ] [tʌŋ] [tæŋ] [tæn] [tʌn]
2. song sung sang sand sun [sɔŋ] [sʌŋ] [sæŋ]
[sænd]
[sʌn]
3. wrong rung rang ran run [ɹɔŋ] [ɹʌŋ]
[ɹæŋ]
[ɹæn] [ɹʌn]
Unreleased
stop: "promised
to"
phonetics I index phonetics II index home