Pronuncing ‘a’ in 500 Common English Words

Learn the pronunciation of the vowel in the stressed syllable, as well as how the ‘a’ in pronounced. I recommend using m-w.com to hear American pronunciation.
 
The following words have at least one ‘a’ that sounds like the vowel in the word [but]–a sound called ‘schwa’.

a, award, was, what, around, again, away, along, area, usually, across, against, numeral, ago, material, general, appear, amount, alone, signal, equal, decimal, wasn’t, capital, ahead, plural, afraid, agreed, arrive, about, America, animal, away, because, around, mountain, above, idea, important, along, Indian, area, usually, across, certain, several, surface, ocean, machine, language, thousands, special, among, finally, island,

The following words have an ‘a’ that sounds like /ah/ in [father] or /o/ in [hot]

saw, watt, all, call, ball, tall, fall, small, wall, also, father, always, walk, watch, far, car, mark, farm, are, star, start, hard, part, talk, draw, along, already, law, drawing, caught, wash, water, want, also, because, almost, halt

The following words have an ‘a’ that sounds like the vowel in [bet]

many, again, any, head, measure, heavy

The following words have an ‘a’ that sounds like the vowel in [coat] or [hope]

war, warm

The following words have an ‘a’ that sounds like the vowel in [sat]

apple, actually, adjective, triangle, chance, factories, capital, cattle, plants, hat, flat, value, sand, captain, bank,, practice, valley, bad, gas, exactly, natural, act, angle, factors, sat, happy, glass, graph, dance, can/can’t, matter, perhaps, language, thousand, am, ran, understand, fact, class, travel, at, that, and, as, an, than, back, after, man, ask, plan, animal, answer, map, add, last, began, wagon, pass, path, sand, fancy, master, bank, capital, as, have, had, has, back, after, answer, animal. hand, ask, land, add, plant, last, began, family, example, stand, black, happened, fast, passed, pattern, map, travel, fact, class, ran, understand, language, cannot, am

The following words have an ‘a’ that sounds like the vowel in [say]

make, may, made, take, place, name, say, same, came, away, play, page, paper, always, state, carry, later, waves, today, space, able, equation, shape, explain, game, plane, contain, carefully, stay, base, became, gave

Peggy Tharpe teaches, coaches, and publishes about English pronunciation and intonation. She believes that if you understand why something is happening, you're better able to address it and change it. She teaches the "why" of pronunciation as well as the "what" and "how".

Pronouncing 'A' in 500 common English words. Share on X