Letter names and letter sounds
There are two different things a child needs to learn about each letter: its name and the sound it makes. The letter B is called "bee" but says /b/. Mixing the two is one of the most common early stumbling blocks in reading, so it helps to be explicit about which one you are practising. This tool says the letter and then a word that starts with it, which lets a child hear the connection between the two.
Does the alphabet have to be learned in order?
Not necessarily. Singing the alphabet in order is great for memory and sequencing, but for reading it is usually more effective to start with the letters a child cares about most — the ones in their own name — and with letters that appear frequently and have a single reliable sound, like M, S, T and A. Order games like the one here are still valuable, because knowing the sequence helps later with dictionaries, indexes and filing.
English and Spanish are not the same alphabet
The English alphabet has 26 letters. The Spanish alphabet has 27, because it includes Ñ. The letters look mostly the same but their names and sounds differ significantly — the Spanish vowels have one steady sound each, while English vowels change depending on the word. If a child is learning both, keeping the two clearly separated at first avoids a lot of confusion. This page switches the alphabet, the words and the voice automatically depending on the language you are viewing.
Frequently asked questions
How many letters are in the alphabet?
The English alphabet has 26 letters. The Spanish alphabet has 27, since it also includes Ñ. Digraphs like CH and LL were removed from the Spanish alphabet as separate letters in 2010.
What age should a child learn the alphabet?
Many children start recognising some letters between ages three and four, and most know most letter names by five or six. There is a wide normal range, and interest matters more than age — children who are read to regularly tend to pick letters up naturally.
What is the best order to teach letters?
A common approach is to start with the letters in the child's own name, then move to frequent letters with one reliable sound such as M, S, T, A and P, saving visually similar pairs like b and d for later so they are not confused with each other.
Should I teach letter names or letter sounds first?
Most current reading approaches teach both together but emphasise sounds early, because sounds are what a child actually uses to blend words. Letter names are still useful for talking about letters and for spelling out loud.
Why does the voice sound different in English and Spanish?
The page uses your device's built-in speech voices and picks one matching the page language, so the Spanish version pronounces the letters in Spanish and the English version in English. If no matching voice is installed on the device, the sound may be unavailable.