University of Sheffield logo

For the main Learning the International Phonetic Alphabet page, click here.

Writing IPA symbols

This page is intended to help you learn to write IPA symbols clearly and unambiguously. This is an important skill for a phonetician.

A typed version of each base (on-the-line) IPA symbol is shown. Three ruled lines are shown, one at the bottom to show the line on which the character (minus any descender) sits, one at the top to show the height of tallest characters, and one in the middle to show the height of the character 'x'.

Handwritten versions of each symbol by two phoneticians are also provided, in columns A and B. The ruled lines from the typed versions have been retained to give a better indication of the size of the characters and their position relative to a line of transcription in which they might appear. As you would expect, you will notice slight differences between the handwritten versions but each symbol is still clear and unambiguous.

For some symbols one or more sample 'unacceptable versions' are given. These are versions which are frequently encountered, especially in transcriptions by people new to phonetic transcription, but which need to be avoided. In most cases this is due to the potential for mistaking one symbol for another. If you are using a computer (as opposed to a tablet), if you hover your mouse pointer over the unacceptable version you will see a description of the problematic feature(s). You can check the meaning of any typography terms you don't know here.

The list of symbols is broken down into sections:

Pulmonic consonants

Typed version A B unacceptable versions
001 001 001
002 002 002
003 003 003 003a
004 004 004
005 005 005
006 006 006 006a 006b
007 007 007
008 008 008
009 009 009 009a
010 010 010
011 011 011 011a
012 012 012
013 013 013 013a
014 014 014
015 015 015 015a
016 016 016
017 017 017 017a
018 018 018 018a
019 019 019 019a 019a
020 020 020 020a
021 021 021 021a
022 022 022 022a
023 023 023 023a
024 024 024
025 025 025 025a 025a
026 026 026
027 027 027 027a
028 028 028 028a
029 029 029 029a
030 030 030
031 031 031 031a 031b 031b
032 032 032
033 033 033
034 034 034 034a
035 035 035 035a
036 036 036 036a
037 037 037
038 038 038
039 039 039
040 040 040
041 041 041
042 042 042 042a
043 043 043 043a
044 044 044
045 045 045
046 046 046 046a
047 047 047
048 048 048
049 049 049
050 050 050
051 051 051 051a
052 052 052
053 053 053
054 054 054
055 055 055
056 056 056
057 057 057 057a
058 058 058
059 059 059

Non-pulmonic consonants

Typed version A B unacceptable versions
060 060 060
061 061 061 061a
062 062 062 062a
063 063 063
064 064 064
065 065 065
066 066 066
067 067 067
068 068 068
069 069 069
070 070 070 070a 070b
071 071 071 071a 071b
072 072 072 072a 072b
073 073 073 073a 073b

Other symbols

Typed version A B unacceptable versions
074 074 074 074a
075 075 075 075a
076 076 076
077 077 077 077a
078 078 078
079 079 079
080 080 080
081 081 081
082 082 082
083 083 083
084 084 084
085 085 085

Vowels

Typed version A B unacceptable versions
086 086 086 086a
087 087 087
088 088 088
089 089 089
090 090 090 090a
091 091 091 091a
092 092 092 092a
093 093 093
094 094 094
095 095 095
096 096 096
097 097 097
098 098 098
099 099 099 099a
100 100 100
101 101 101
102 102 102
103 103 103
104 104 104
105 105 105
106 106 106
107 107 107
108 108 108
109 109 109 109a
110 110 110
111 111 111
112 112 112
112 112 112