/w/ as in "water"

/w/ is a voiced labio-velar approximant of General American English, as in "water" and "window." To produce it, lips firmly rounded, glide into next vowel. Phoneme provides native-speaker audio and minimal-pair contrasts so learners can hear and practice this consonant.

How to make /w/

voiced labio-velar approximant — lips firmly rounded, glide into next vowel.

Sounds that learners confuse with /w/

• /w/ vs /v/ — /v/ as in "van"

Minimal pairs for /w/

/w/ vs /v/

/w/	/v/
wine	vine
wet	vet
west	vest
wail	veil
wow	vow
whale	vale
wane	vane