The English Alphabet: How to Say Each Letter

The 26 letters and how to say them

The "sounds like" column is a simple respelling to help you start; it isn't a phonetic transcription. Vowel letter names are the ones that confuse Spanish speakers most, because English names them differently from Spanish.

Letters learners confuse

• A vs E, E vs I and G vs J: the most common spelling mistakes.
• B vs V: B uses both lips; V uses the top teeth on the bottom lip.
• W is "double u".

How to spell your name and email

• My name is Ana: A-N-A.
• My last name is Villa: V-I-double L-A.
• My email is ana dot villa at gmail dot com.

To ask: How do you spell that? In email addresses, @ is at, . is dot, _ is underscore and - is dash.

Spelling on the phone

On a call, letters like B, D, P and T, or M and N, are easy to mix up. Two habits help:

• Add a word for the letters people might confuse: B as in boy, P as in Peter, M as in Mary, N as in Nancy.
• Group the letters and pause between groups: V-I, double L-A. Then ask the other person to read it back: Could you read that back to me?

Activities for kids

1. Spell your name: each child spells their name and a classmate's.
2. What comes next? Someone says three letters in a row (F, G, H…) and the others say the next one.
3. Words with…: for each letter, an English word that starts with it, like in the table.

Read next: months in English and spelling bee words by grade.

Next step: if you don't know your level, take the English level test (about 15 minutes, with instant results). To keep working on this topic, see Vozi Bee's spelling bee practice by level.