Practise using the spelling and mouth position; no recording is attached.
The idea
For initial /h/ in house and help, breathe out gently as your mouth moves toward the next vowel. Compare hat and at: only the first starts with breath.
Examples
- The house has a blue door.
- Please help the visitor.
- A hen is in the garden.
- The hat is on the chair.
- We have hot soup.
- His hand is clean.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic English voice on your device. Quality and availability vary; it does not assess pronunciation.
No English device voice is available. You can still read the examples.
Watch out
Do not add a vowel before help. The written h is silent in some words, such as hour.
Try it yourself
In “My hat is red”, which word starts with /h/: hat or at?
Show answer or example answer
hat
hat begins with a breath; at begins with a vowel.
In “The heat is strong”, which word starts with /h/: heat or eat?
Show answer or example answer
heat
heat begins with a breath; eat begins with a vowel.
In “The hill is high”, which word starts with /h/: hill or ill?
Show answer or example answer
hill
hill begins with a breath; ill begins with a vowel.
Practice round
Answer questions and rebuild English sentences to practise. Your score is shown.
In “My hat is red”, which word starts with /h/: hat or at?
In “The heat is strong”, which word starts with /h/: heat or eat?
In “The hill is high”, which word starts with /h/: hill or ill?
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
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Say heat and eat, then hill and ill. Feel the breath at the start.