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