Decoding the letter U

The letter U (lowercase u, pronounced as most vowel letters in English, had initially four main pronunciations; however in Received Pronunciation they are currently eight and in General American there are seven.
 * So-called “short u”, IPA phoneme /ʌ/, as in strut, run, running or hurry
 * So-called “long u”, with two possibilities
 * IPA phonetic sequence /juː/, as in cute, student, assume, or assuming
 * IPA phoneme /uː/, as in rule, ruling, conclusion or flu


 * Long "ur" monophthong (short vowel spelling), IPA phoneme /ɜː/, as in nurse, fur, furry or hurry
 * Long vowel "ur" spelling, with two possibilities and several sounds
 * With /j/
 * Traditional pronunciation, as in cure, curious or fury: IPA phonetic sequences /jʊə/ or /jʊ/
 * Newer pronunciations: IPA sequences /jɔː/ (cure) or /jɜː/ (cure, curious)
 * Without /j/
 * Traditional pronunciation, as in sure, tourist: IPA phoneme /ʊə/ or /ʊ/
 * Newer pronunciation IPA phoneme /ɔː/ (sure, tourist) or /ɜː/ (sure)

U also can be pronounced /ʊ/ as in full and /w/ as in quit, plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).

It is also very much one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between RP (/juː/) and American (/uː/) pronunciations regarding, particularly with words like due or nude. This is also explained at "Yod dropping"" in the IPA phonetic sequence /juː/ article.

As /juː/ or /uː/
See main articles IPA phoneme /uː/ and IPA phonetic sequence /juː/.

The letter U can represent the sounds /juː/ or /uː/ depending on the previous consonant.

Always /juː/
Initially and after /b, f, g, h, k, m, p/ and /v/ the letter U sounds /juː/


 * Initially /juː/: unit - unite - university

Exception
 * as /uː/: recuperate

Depending on the accent
After /d, n, s, t, θ/ and /z/ U sounds /juː/ in Received Pronunciation and /uː/ in General American

Exceptions
 * Always /juː/: annual - manual - menu

Always /uː/
After /dʒ, l, r, ʃ/ and /tʃ/ U represents /uː/.

Exceptions:
 * /juː/: volume

As /ʊ/
See main article IPA phoneme /ʊ/.''


 * "u" + final consonant: put;
 * "u" + two consonants: bull - bullet - bush - cushion - full - pull - push

As /ʌ/
See main article IPA phoneme /ʌ/.


 * "u" + final consonants: bun - but - cup - discuss - fun - just - lunch - much - run - sun - up
 * "u" + double consonant: butter - funny - runny - suffer - summer - sunny - tummy
 * "u" + two consonants: hungry - judge - number - public - trumpet - uncle - under
 * "u" + single consonant: study
 * The prefix "un": unable - unemployed - uninvited - unusual

As /w/
See main article IPA phoneme /w/.


 * with "g": anguish - bilingual - distinguish - guacamole - Guatemala - iguana - language - linguistics - Nicaragua /ˌnɪkəˈrɑːgwə, ˌnɪkəˈræɡjʊə/ - Paraguay - penguin - Uruguay
 * with "q": acquire - consequence - equal - equipment - quality - quarter - question - quick - quickly - quiet - quite - quote - request - require - requirement
 * with "s": dissuade - persuade - suite

As schwa
See main article Schwa.


 * as "-ure": figure  /ˈfɪɡər/, /ˈfɪɡjər/
 * as "-ture": adventure - creature - feature - future - nature - picture - structure - temperature
 * others: minuscule - mollusc/mollusk - opossum - Saturday - supply - support - virus

Silent U

 * Antigua /ænˈtiːɡə/ - buoy - guarantee - guard - guardian - guess - guest - guide - Guinea /ˈgɪnɪ/ - Guinnes /ˈgɪnɪs/ - guilty - guitar - mosquito

See also "Silent ue" and "ui as /ɪ/" below.

Others

 * As /ɪ/: business - busy - lettuce - minute (n. 1/60 of an hour)

As "ue"

 * As /uː/: blue - issue - tissue - sue - true
 * As /juː/: argue - continue - due - revenue - Tuesday - value

Silent "ue"

 * antique - cheque - colleague - conquer - intrigue - league - synagogue - technique - tongue - unique

Ending in "logue":
 * analogue - catalogue - dialogue - epilogue - monologue - prologue
 * In American English the following spellings are also used:
 * analog - catalog - dialog - epilog - monolog - prolog

With magic e:
 * fugue - plague - vogue

As "ui"
See main article Decoding exercises: "ui".


 * as /uː/: bruise - cruise - fruit - juice - lawsuit - suit - suitable - suitcase;
 * as /ɪ/: biscuit - build - built - circuit;

Combined with "r"
See also as schwa above.

As /ɜː/
See main article /ɜː/.


 * blur - burn - curb - curl - curling - curly - furniture - hurt - surgeon - Thursday - turn - urban - urgent

As /ʌ, ɜː/

 * currency - current - hurry

As /jʊə/

 * cure - pure - secure

As /ʊə/

 * mature

As /ʊə/ or /ɔː/

 * assure - ensure - insure - sure

As //

 * bury

Homophones
See main article Homophone.


 * blue - blew; bury - berry; flu - flew; sun - son

Heteronyms
See main article Heteronym.
 * minute: n. 1/60 of an hour /ˈmɪnɪt/, adj. very small /maɪˈnjuːt/

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish
See Pronunciation exercises: /uː/ vs /ʊ/