The letter h in English can be pronounced in different ways. These don’t follow a standard rule, so you will have to learn how to pronounce each h- word. The following guide covers pronunciation in North American English, but some accents follow different pronunciations for the letter h.
It’s important to learn the difference because the way h is pronounced can change the meaning of a word. For example, the word “hat” is pronounced one way, while the word “hate” (with a silent -e at the end) is pronounced a different way. So, depending on how you pronounce the h you will be saying a different word.
The most common way is to make a sound by exhaling air through the mouth and voicing the sound at the same time. This is used in words like:
- hat
- heat
- hit
- hip
- happy
- hammer
Another way to pronounce h is to make a sound by exhaling air through the back of the mouth and voicing the sound at the same time. This is used in words like:
- huge
- hilarious
- hula
- hiccups
- hostile
- humble
A third way to pronounce h is to make a sound by exhaling air through the front of the mouth and voicing the sound at the same time. This is used in words like:
- hyena
- homage
- history
- horrific
- hypnotize
- hierarchy
