How to Make Each Speech Sound: Mouth Positions for Every English Consonant

✓ Reviewed against International Phonetic Association IPA chart, ASHA Practice Portal, Crowe & McLeod (2020)Evidence level BLast reviewed October 14, 2026Published October 14, 2026

Every English consonant has a recipe: where the lips, teeth, and tongue go, how the air moves, and whether the voice is on. This chart gives a plain-English mouth-position cue for each sound, which ones a child can see in a mirror, and the age most children master each — so you know what to model and when to expect it.

Mouth positions for every English consonant

Each cue below describes where the sound is made (place), how the air moves (manner), and whether the voice is on — the three dimensions the IPA uses to classify consonants. Ages are the band in which 90% of US children produce the sound correctly.^1,3

Placement cues for English consonants, grouped by place (classification: IPA; ages: Crowe & McLeod, 2020, 90% criterion).
Sound	Mouth-position cue	Visible?	Age (90%)
P, B	Lips together, build air, pop them open; voice off for P, on for B	Yes	2
M	Lips together, hum through the nose	Yes	2
W	Round the lips small, then open into the vowel	Yes	2
F, V	Top teeth rest on the bottom lip; blow (F) or buzz (V)	Yes	F 3 · V 4
TH (think, this)	Tongue tip peeks between the teeth; blow gently (voice off) or hum (voice on)	Yes	this 5 · think 6
T, D	Tongue tip taps the ridge behind the top teeth	Partly	D 2 · T 3
N	Tongue tip on the ridge, hum through the nose	Partly	2
S, Z	Teeth close together, tongue tip just behind them, air down a groove in the middle	Partly	4
L	Tongue tip up on the ridge, air flows around the sides	Partly	4
SH, ZH	Lips rounded and pushed forward, tongue a little further back than S	Lips only	SH 4 · ZH 5
CH, J	Start as T or D, release into SH or ZH, lips rounded	Lips only	4
R	Tongue bunched or curled back, sides braced on the back teeth, lips slightly rounded	No	5
Y	Middle of the tongue high, near the hard palate, then glide into the vowel	No	3
K, G	Tongue tip down, back of the tongue pops off the soft palate	No	3
NG	Back of the tongue on the soft palate, hum through the nose	No	3
H	Mouth open, a puff of air from the throat	No	2

Placement cues for English consonants, grouped by place (classification: IPA; ages: Crowe & McLeod, 2020, 90% criterion).^1,3

Why visible sounds are easier to teach

A child can copy what they can see. ASHA lists visibility as one of the client-specific factors SLPs weigh when choosing target sounds, and its own example contrasts /f/, which is easy to see, with /k/, which is made out of sight. For hidden sounds, SLPs rely on cues the child can feel or hear — or on technology that makes the tongue visible.²

R is the clearest example of a hidden sound. A 2020 clinical tutorial lists the shared requirements for /r/ as a constriction in the mouth, a second constriction in the throat, a lowered tongue body, the sides of the tongue braced against the back teeth, and slight lip rounding — none of which a child can see.⁴

Cues that help a child find the position

Mirror: sit side by side so your child can compare their mouth with yours.
Hand gestures: a long sweep for a long sound (S, F, SH), a short chop for a stop (T, K).
Touch: a light touch with a clean spoon or finger shows where the tongue tip should rest.
Feel the air or the buzz: a hand in front of the mouth for airflow, a hand on the throat for voicing, a fingertip on the nose for M, N, and NG.

These are the same families of techniques ASHA describes: a mirror for visual feedback, gestural cueing for place or manner, tactile cues such as a tongue depressor, and — for stubborn errors — ultrasound imaging or palatography to show the tongue’s position.²

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Position, not strength

Getting a sound right is about placement and coordination, not muscle strength. A systematic review found insufficient evidence that nonspeech oral motor exercises — blowing, tongue push-ups — change speech.

That conclusion comes from an evidence-based systematic review of 15 studies of oral motor exercises.⁵

Step-by-step guides for each sound

Free Sound Practice

Hear a clear model of each word and compare your child’s try — with an instant AI check for R.

Try it free →

If your child cannot find a position even with cues, or many sounds are affected, a speech-language pathologist can help. Find one through ASHA’s ProFind directory.⁶

Frequently asked questions

Which speech sounds can a child see in a mirror?＋

Sounds made at the front — P, B, M, and W with the lips; F and V with teeth on lip; and the two TH sounds, where the tongue tip shows between the teeth. Sounds made further back, such as K, G, and NG, are hidden. ASHA lists how visible a sound is as one factor SLPs weigh when choosing targets, with /f/ vs. /k/ as its example.

Which speech sounds are hardest to teach?＋

Usually the hidden, complex ones: R needs several tongue movements at once, S needs a precise groove for the air, and K and G happen out of sight. They also tend to be later sounds — R is acquired at 5;0–5;11 and voiceless TH at 6;0–6;11 at the 90% criterion in US data.

How do SLPs teach where the tongue goes?＋

With cues the child can see, hear, or feel. ASHA lists using a mirror, hand gestures for place or manner, tactile cues such as a tongue depressor, and technology such as ultrasound or palatography that shows the tongue’s position.

What does “voiced” mean?＋

A voiced sound is made with the vocal folds vibrating — put a hand on your throat and you feel a buzz on Z but not on S. Eight English pairs share a mouth position and differ only in voicing: P/B, T/D, K/G, F/V, S/Z, SH/ZH, CH/J, and the two TH sounds.