Diphthongs in English: All 8 Explained with Examples [2026]

A diphthong is a vowel sound that moves. Instead of holding one mouth position, as a pure vowel does, a diphthong glides from one position to another inside a single syllable, which is why the word comes from the Greek for "two sounds". English has eight of them, and getting the glide right is a big part of sounding natural. This guide covers all eight with their International Phonetic Alphabet symbols and example words. This builds on our wider guide to English vowel sounds, which places these eight alongside the short and long vowels.

The 8 diphthongs

Say each one slowly and you will feel your mouth move from the first position toward the second.

• eɪ as in face, day, rain, break
• aɪ as in price, my, high, try
• ɔɪ as in choice, boy, coin, enjoy
• əʊ as in goat, no, show, home
• aʊ as in mouth, now, house, down
• ɪə as in near, here, beer, idea
• eə as in square, hair, care, there
• ʊə as in cure, tour, pure, sure

Why the glide matters

The movement is what makes a diphthong a diphthong. If you cut it short and hold a single position, the word can shift or sound flat. For example, if the əʊ in home does not glide, it can drift toward a pure vowel and sound like a different accent or an unclear word. Feeling the two positions, start and finish, is what lets you produce them clearly.

Diphthongs and spelling

As always in English, one sound appears under many spellings. The eɪ sound is spelled ay in day, ai in rain, a-e in face and ea in break, yet it is always the same diphthong. This is exactly why learning the IPA symbol, rather than the spelling, is what fixes pronunciation: the symbol stays constant while the spelling changes.

Common difficulties

Two pairs cause learners the most trouble. The ɪə of near and the eə of square are close and often confused, so beer and bear can blur together. And the əʊ of goat is pronounced very differently across accents, which can make it hard to copy from a single speaker. A dictionary IPA gives you the standard form to aim for.

Getting your vowels checked

Diphthongs are among the last vowel sounds learners master, and they are very noticeable to native listeners. Another way spelling hides pronunciation is covered in our silent letters guide. If you want to know how clear your pronunciation is across all these sounds, our Eng4Skills assessment grades your spoken English against the CEFR, so you can hear which sounds are already clear and which still need work.