Pronunciation insight 6

 Diphthongs and rhyming words

A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds pronounced together, for example, /eɪ/ as in play /pleɪ/ and /əʊ/ as in cold /kəʊld/.
The first vowel sound is always longer than the second. There are eight diphthongs in English, but one of them is hardly ever used. Many native speakers use /ɔ:/ instead of /ʊə/. For example, poor is usually pronounced /pɔ:/ instead of /pʊə/.

1Study the sound symbols. Play the recording, listen and write the example word for each diphthong. Then listen again and repeat. 

• 1/eɪ/ - 

• 2/aɪ/ - 

• 3/ɔɪ/ - 

• 4/ɪə/ - 

• 5/eə/ - 

• 6/ʊə/ - 

• 7/əʊ/ - 

• 8/aʊ/ - 

2Read words 1–7 aloud and choose the correct diphthong for each word. Then match the words from the left column to the rhyming words from the right column. 

MOVE
• /eɪ/
• /aɪ/
• /ɔɪ/
• /ɪə/
• /eə/
• /əʊ/
• /aʊ/

• 1  - crowd

• 2  - phone

• 3  - try

• 4  - day

• 5  - noise

• 6  - wear

• 7  - year

crowd

phone

try

day

noise

wear

year

• grey
• hair
• here
• high
• loud
• shown
• toys

3Play the recording and check your answers to exercise 2. Then listen again and repeat. 

4Complete the sentences with a rhyming pair of words in exercise 2. Then play the recording and check. 

• 1The child had some  that made a lot of .

• 2It was a cloudy , and the sky was .

• 3My grandparents have  that they hate their new .

• 4The boys wanted to  to jump very .

• 5There was a big , so the party was .

• 6It's been a  since we moved .

• 7I'll do my  and find something nice to .