Phoneme
/s/

/s/ as in "sun"

/s/ is a voiceless alveolar fricative of General American English, as in "sun" and "sock." To produce it, tongue near the ridge, air channels through. Phoneme provides native-speaker audio and minimal-pair contrasts so learners can hear and practice this consonant.

/s/sun
sunalso: sock
Isolated sound
"sun"

How to make /s/

voiceless alveolar fricative — tongue near the ridge, air channels through.

Sounds that learners confuse with /s/

Minimal pairs for /s/

/s/ vs /z/
/s//z/
sipzip
busbuzz
priceprize
suezoo
sealzeal
sapzap
ricerise
lacelaze
/s/ vs /ʃ/
/s//ʃ/
sipship
seashe
sockshock
soreshore
sellshell
sortshort
saveshave