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The 26 letters and their names

The letter W is called double-u, but in print it looks like two v letters.

English uses 26 letters, from A to Z. Every letter has two forms: a capital letter (A, B, C) and a small letter (a, b, c). We use capital letters at the start of a sentence, for names of people and places, and for the word I. Most of the time we write small letters. This unit teaches the name of each letter, because you need the names to spell your name, an email address or a street aloud.

Letter names and letter sounds

A letter has a name and it also has sounds. The name of B is bee, but in the word bed the letter only says a short b sound. The name of C is see, but in cat it sounds like k. When you spell a word aloud, use the names: c, a, t. When you read the word, use the sounds: cat. Children in English speaking countries learn both, and you will too.

Five letters are called vowel letters: A, E, I, O and U. The other 21 are consonant letters. The letter Y can work as both. In yes it is a consonant, and in my or gym it acts like a vowel. Vowel letters are important because every syllable needs a vowel sound.

Names that are easy to mix up

Some letter names sound very close. B, D, E, G, P, T, V and Z (in America) all end with the same ee sound, so listen to the first sound carefully. A, H, J and K share the sound in day. I and Y share the sound in my. Q and U end with the same you sound. On the phone people often say a word to make a letter clear, for example B as in boy, or P as in Peter.

Three names surprise many learners. H is aitch, with no h sound at the start. W is double-u, three syllables long. And Z has two names. Cambridge Dictionary lists zed as the British name and zee as the American one. Both are correct. Use the one your teacher or your listeners use.

Letters	Shared sound in the name	Example word
A H J K	ay as in day	day
B C D E G P T V	ee as in see	see
F L M N S X	starts with e as in bed	bed
I Y	eye as in my	my
Q U W	you	you
O	oh as in go	go
R	ar as in car	car

BackgroundWhy is W called double-u when it looks like two v letters? In the 7th century, people began to write English with the Latin alphabet. Latin had no letter for the w sound, so scribes wrote two u letters, uu. For some centuries English writers used an old rune called wynn instead. Then, in the 11th century, Norman scribes brought back uu as one joined letter, and by about 1300 it had replaced wynn. Later, printers often made the letter with sharp points, so it looks like vv. The name kept the old story: double-u.

Practise spelling your own name aloud with letter names. Then spell your email address. The at sign @ is read as at, and the dot is read as dot.

Under each line you will see a pronunciation guide in IPA, the symbols used by learner dictionaries such as Cambridge and Merriam-Webster. The recording uses an American voice, so the guide follows American English. Listen first, then copy the sound, not the letters.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G · the first seven letters
H, I, J, K, L, M, N · the next seven letters
O, P, Q, R, S, T, U · the next seven letters
V, W, X, Y, Z · the last five letters
My name is Kim. K, I, M. · saying and spelling a name
How do you spell that? · a question to ask for the letters
B as in boy. · making a letter clear

H	aitch: no h sound at the start
W	double-u: three syllables
Z	zee (US) or zed (UK)
Y	why: sounds like the word why
R	ar, like car without the c
Q	cue, like you with k in front
G	jee, with a soft j
J	jay, rhymes with day
E	ee, like the word see without s
I	eye, the same as the word eye

A B C D E F G, H I J K L M N O P, Q R S, T U V, W X, Y and Z.

How many letters does the English alphabet have?
- 24
- 26
- 28
Which letters are the five vowel letters?
- A E I O U
- A B C D E
- B C D F G
What is the American name of Z?
- zee
- zed
- zeta
Which letter name has three syllables?
- W
- X
- H
Which letter name rhymes with day?
- K
- E
- I
In the word cat, what sound does C make?
- k
- s
- ch
When do we use a capital letter?
- At the start of a sentence and for names
- For every noun
- Only in titles
In which word is Y a consonant?
- yes
- my
- gym
Type the letters of the word that is spelled D, O, G.
Does the name of H start with an h sound?
- No, it is aitch
- Yes, it is hee
- Only in Britain

Key points

26 letters, each with a capital and a small form.
Vowel letters: A E I O U. Y can be both.
Names are for spelling aloud, sounds are for reading.
Z is zee in the US and zed in the UK.

Sources for this course (7)

Cambridge Dictionary, entries zed, zee, schwa (dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/...)
British Council TeachingEnglish, The phonemic chart for English teachers (teachingenglish.org.uk) and LearnEnglish Sounds Right (learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/apps/learnenglish-sounds-right)
Greg Brooks, Dictionary of the British English Spelling System, ch. 2 The phonemes of spoken English, Open Book Publishers 2015 (books.openedition.org/obp/2184): 44 phonemes in RP, 24 consonants and 20 vowels
Merriam-Webster, entries record (noun and verb)
hello (merriam-webster.com/dictionary/...)
Young-Ja Paik, Pronunciation Difficulties of Korean Students Learning English as a Second Language, Seoul National University (s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/85585/3/7.%202236296.pdf)
Reading Rockets, The 44 Sounds (Phonemes) of English (readingrockets.org).

Checked: 2026-10-17