1 definition by Steir
If there is an IPA symbol you are looking for that you do not see here, see Help: IPA, which is a more complete list. For a table listing all spellings of the sounds on this page, see English orthography § Sound-to-spelling correspondences. For help converting spelling to pronunciation, see English orthography § Spelling-to-sound correspondences.
The words given as examples for two different symbols may sound the same to you. For example, you may pronounce cot and caught the same, do and dew, or marry and merry. This often happens because of dialect variation (see our articles English phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects). If this is the case, you will pronounce those symbols the same for other words as well.1 Whether this is true for all words, or just when the sounds occur in the same context, depends on the merger.2 The footnotes explain some of these cases.
The words given as examples for two different symbols may sound the same to you. For example, you may pronounce cot and caught the same, do and dew, or marry and merry. This often happens because of dialect variation (see our articles English phonology and International Phonetic Alphabet chart for English dialects). If this is the case, you will pronounce those symbols the same for other words as well.1 Whether this is true for all words, or just when the sounds occur in the same context, depends on the merger.2 The footnotes explain some of these cases.
by Steir March 1, 2021