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The Sound r In American English

letter rsound rconsonant r

The Sound of the Letter r

The letter letter "r" makes the sound /r/ in English. This pronunciation drill focuses on this sound and offers practice with the sound in several important syllable structures. The drill includes the following combinations:

Vowel + Consonant (VC)

Consonant + Vowel (CV)

Vowel + Consonant + Consonant (VCC)

Vowel + Three-Consonant Cluster (VCCC)

The current lesson focuses on the simpler VC, CV, and VCC combinations, while the more complex VCCC patterns are dealt with in a separate lesson.

Step 1: Vowel + Consonant

Repeat each word aloud at least 3 times.

Short i + r → /ɪr/

Example

peer, deer, veer

Short e + r → /ɛr/

Example

bear, pear, care

a + r → /ɑr/

Example

car, bar, far

o + r → /ɔr/

Example

core, for, more

Short u + r → /ʊr/

Example

sure, tour

aʊ + r → /aʊ(ə)r/

Example

sour, hour, power

aɪ + r → /aɪ(ə)r/

Example

choir, fire, wire

Step 2: Consonant + Vowel

Repeat each word aloud at least 3 times.

r + i → /ri/

Example

read, reel, reek

r + Short i → /rɪ/

Example

rib, rid, rip

r + Short e → /rɛ/

Example

red, rest, rent

r + æ → /ræ/

Example

rat, rap, rack

r + a → /rɑ/

Example

raw, rob, rock

r + Short a → /rʌ/

Example

run, rub, rust

r + u → /ru/

Example

root, room, rule

r + eɪ → /reɪ/

Example

raid, raise, rave

r + aɪ → /raɪ/

Example

ride, right, rhyme

r + aʊ → /raʊ/

Example

rouse, rowdy

r + Long o → /roʊ/

Example

row, road, rose

Step 3: Vowel + Consonant + Consonant

Repeat each word aloud at least 3 times. The words in this set include consonant clusters, so they might need more practice.

Short e + r + k → /ɛrk/

Example

jerk, lurk, clerk

a + r + k → /ɑrk/

Example

bark, dark, park

o + r + k → /ɔrk/

Example

fork, pork, stork

Short e + r + g → /ɜrg/

Example

iceberg

o + r + g → /ɔrg/

Example

org, morgue

Short e + r + j → /ɜrdʒ/

Example

merge, verge, surge

a + r + j → /ɑrdʒ/

Example

large, barge, charge

o + r + j → /ɔrdʒ/

Example

gorge, forge

Short e + r + t → /ɜrt/

Example

hurt, dirt, shirt

a + r + t → /ɑrt/

Example

art, part, smart

o + r + t → /ɔrt/

Example

court, sort, short

Short e + r + d → /ɜrd/

Example

bird, herd, third

a + r + d → /ɑrd/

Example

card, hard, yard

o + r + d → /ɔrd/

Example

cord, lord, board

aɪ + r + d → /aɪ(ə)rd/

Example

tired, fired, wired

oʊ + r + d → /oʊrd/

Example

soared, roared, bored

Short e + r + m → /ɜrm/

Example

firm, term, germ

a + r + m → /ɑrm/

Example

arm, charm, warm

o + r + m → /ɔrm/

Example

storm, form, norm

Short e + r + n → /ɜrn/

Example

earn, turn, learn

a + r + n → /ɑrn/

Example

barn, yarn, darn

o + r + n → /ɔrn/

Example

born, horn, thorn

Short i + r + z → /ɪrz/

Example

sears, peers, spears

Short e + r + z → /ɛrz/

Example

pears, bears, dares

a + r + z → /ɑrz/

Example

bars, cars, stars

o + r + z → /ɔrz/

Example

pores, cores, roars

aɪ + r + z → /aɪ(ə)rz/

Example

fires, wires, tires

aʊ + r + z → /aʊrz/

Example

ours, hours, scours

Short e + r + s → /ɜrs/

Example

nurse, curse, purse

a + r + s → /ɑrs/

Example

parse

o + r + s → /ɔrs/

Example

horse, course, force

Short e + r + th → /ɜrθ/

Example

birth, earth

o + r + th → /ɔrθ/

Example

forth, north

a + r + sh → /ɑrʃ/

Example

marsh, harsh

Short e + r + ch → /ɜrtʃ/

Example

birch, church, perch

a + r + ch → /ɑrtʃ/

Example

march, parch, starch

o + r + ch → /ɔrtʃ/

Example

torch, porch, scorch

Short e + r + v → /ɜrv/

Example

serve, nerve, curve

a + r + v → /ɑrv/

Example

carve, starve

Short e + r + b → /ɜrb/

Example

curb, herb, verb

a + r + b → /ɑrb/

Example

barb, garb

a + r + p → /ɑrp/

Example

carp, harp, tarp

Short e + r + p → /ɜrp/

Example

burp, chirp, slurp

Short e + r + f → /ɜrf/

Example

turf, surf

a + r + f → /ɑrf/

Example

barf, scarf

o + r + f → /ɔrf/

Example

dwarf, wharf

Short e + r + l → /ɜrl/

Example

curl, hurl, whirl

a + r + l → /ɑrl/

Example

snarl, gnarl

o + r + l → /ɔrl/

Example

whorl

Sentence Drills

Example

Ray rode the red car in the rain.

Rick ran across the rough road.

Rose wrote a short report.

Ruth heard birds in the park.

The storm turned the dark road wet.

The girl heard strange words first.

A shark swam near the shore.

Brad drove past the large barn.

The fork scratched the hard rock.

The horse raced around the park.

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