The word 'cat' has three phonemes.

Spelling: Phonemes

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This KS2 English spelling quiz will test you on phonemes. A phoneme is a single language sound. The word 'cat' has three phonemes - 'c', 'a', and 't'. A grapheme is a letter or combination of letters which spells a phoneme. The 'c' sound heard in 'cat' can also be made by the grapheme 'k' as in 'kettle' or the 'ck' of 'brick'. Learning phonics can help you with your spelling.

You may want to play the quiz on graphemes along with this quiz to give you a full understanding of the differences.

See how well you know the English language and its phonemes by trying this quiz.

To see a larger image, click on the picture.

Which one of these words shares the 'w' sound heard in 'winter'?

Saw

Flew

King

Queen

Although you can see the letter 'w' in 'saw' and 'flew', you do not hear it as a 'w' sound. Say the word 'queen' carefully and you will hear the 'w'.

Which one of these words shares the 'z' sound heard in 'zoo'?

Please

X-ray

Silent

Skewer

The word 'please' sounds as if it could be written 'pleeze'!

Which one of these words shares the 'f' sound heard in 'farm'?

Plenty

Pharmacy

Oven

'Ph' is pronounced 'f', as in 'phone'. The 'f' in 'of' makes a different sound. Say it carefully and you will hear a 'v' as in 'oven'.

Which of these words shares the 'ou' sound heard in 'mouse'?

Enough

Should

Now

Flow

The 'ou' spelling can represent many different phonemes - see the grapheme quiz for more practice.

Which of these words shares the 'e' sound heard in 'he'?

Elephant

Easy

Set

Head

The 's' in 'easy' has a 'z' sound.

Which of these words shares the 'i' sound heard in 'fin'?

Final

Fright

Type

Trip

The 'i' in final and fright sounds like the word 'eye'.

Which one of these words shares the 'j' sound heard in 'jelly'?

Gum

Fudge

Greek

Gammon

The correct answer sounds like fuj.

Which one of these words shares the 'th' sound heard in 'bother'?

Theory

Weather

Thankful

Path

In these words you can hear two different sounds that the grapheme 'th' can make, but you have to listen carefully. Other languages use different spellings to show the difference between the two sounds. In Welsh, the 'th' of 'path' is spelled 'th', while the 'th' sound heard in 'weather' is spelled with a 'dd'.

Which of these words shares the 'b' sound heard in 'bird'?