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