Here's an introduction to Phonics & Spelling.
æ... ɛ... ɪ... ɔ... ʊ
ɑ... e ... i... o... u
eɪ... aɪ... oʊ... ju
aʊ... ɔɪ
l l l l...
m...
n...
ŋ...
j...
r r r...
w w w w...
j j j j j...
These all say "-er" — the "e - r" sound.
I don't think there's any reason that a dictionary should be concerned about the difference.
Usually, the difference is British or American English.
A dictionary should use the same one for all of the words.
The only reason we would care which one of these we use...
is for...
say, a language expert who's being very, very technical in study.
But, most people should not be concerned about which one of these is used.
Technically, from a dictionary perspective,
it doesn't change the meaning of the word at all!
Just consider any of these — if you ever see them —
to be the "e - r" "-er" sound.
This is a schwa. It makes a fast, fast vowel sound.
The schwa can technically be any vowel sound as long as it's quick.
Usually, it's ə... or ə.
This is a clear ʌ sound.
This is usually fast, ə.
This is a glottal stop, such as "stop it". It's usually used in lazy speech,
"Such as Cockney."
p... t... k...
b... d... g...
Notice "p", "t", and "k" don't say "pu... tu... ku..."
That would be East Asian languages.
In English, it's just p... t... k...
This is part of English speaking in "beat-box".
t͡ʃ This is a "ch" sound.
d͡ʒ This is a "j" sound,
which is why the "j" says j like a "y".
s... f... ʃ... θ...
z... v... ʒ... ð...
These make the same sounds;
these do not have a voice;
these do have a voice.
The "h", h, is combined with the "w" sound to make a "w - h" hw sound.
This is what we use in most of our "WH" words,
such as what, when, why, where.
If we pronounce it this way, then all the "WH" words like those have the same sound.
But, if we're lazy, it's "what, where, why, when, who".
And, that difference is confusing. But, if you see the "wh" as being pronounced this way,
it will always make sense, "what, where, why, when, who".
You can do your own research on vowels.
But, here are some IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) spellings using the letters from above.
These are the short vowels...
æ... ɛ... ɪ... ɑ... u
And then, long vowels.
Consider the vowel with an "e" to be long,
whether they're right next to each other
or if there's one consonant between them.
Some curricula teach "a - space - e".
I teach "a with e".
It doesn't matter if they're right together or if there's one letter between them.
They will all make the same long vowel sound.
There are also other various spellings that make the same long vowel sound.
First learn them by learning...
"a - e", "e - e", "i - e", "o - e", "u - e"
and then knowing that there are several different variants.
And, you can put one letter between them, of course.
Learn these slowly, over time.
Here are some other sounds...
I call these "hard", it's a vowel with an "r".
ɑɹ... ər... ər... — the same — ɔər... ʊər...
Of course, the "-or" and the "-ur" can also say, "ər... ər... ər... ər... ər..."
The difference isn't very important,
it's just common and normal.
We also have a few other sounds...
ɔ... aʊ... ʊ... and ɔɪ...
Here are main ways to spell them;
here are other ways to spell them you should know about.
This "-" dash and the vowels indicates it comes at the end of a word.
Here are other words that you can practice with
and other charts that you can use.
This is how to double consonants.
We have different stops and we have ways that those work.
This is for practice, many of these are not actual words,
but if you know how to put these together and say and read these,
your ability to pronounce words will be very good.
This is a very good practice sheet.
Here are some other strange, complex rules.
This is useful to know these.
These are "th" differences.
θ... The soft "th" sound is voiceless.
And, then ð... — the voiced "th" sound.
Here's a list of very common words.
It's difficult to know the difference, but this chart can help.
Here are some other strange spellings.
It's good to just know these words.
They can be confusing.
At the top, these are common words.
We see these patterns or words with the same pronunciation, but different spelling.
And, here at the bottom we words that are just spelled strangely.
And, it's good to know how to pronounce them.
If you don't know how to pronounce the words you can always use your language tools,
if you're using Google Chrome and click on them and learn how to pronounce them.
This is a very interesting chart on how to change the spelling of verbs, depending on the situation.
These are some basic rules and they're good to go over and good to know.
This can be very useful.