How many vowel sounds are in US English?

There are 20 vowel sounds in US English, but the number of vowel *letters* is only five: A, E, I, O, and U.

This difference is due to the fact that vowel sounds can be modified by factors like:

* Length: "bat" vs. "bathe"

* Stress: "about" vs. "a bout"

* Surrounding consonants: "cot" vs. "caught"

Here's a list of the 20 vowel sounds (using IPA symbols), along with example words:

Front vowels:

1. i: "beat"

2. ɪ: "bit"

3. e: "bait"

4. ɛ: "bet"

5. æ: "bat"

6. ʌ: "but"

Central vowels:

7. ə: "about"

8. ɜ: "bird"

9. ʌ: "but" (sometimes considered a front vowel)

Back vowels:

10. u: "boot"

11. ʊ: "put"

12. o: "boat"

13. ɔ: "caught"

14. ɑ: "father"

Diphthongs (combinations of two vowel sounds):

15. aɪ: "buy"

16. aʊ: "cow"

17. ɔɪ: "boy"

18. eɪ: "bait"

19. oʊ: "go"

20. ju: "music"

Remember, the way we pronounce these vowel sounds can vary slightly depending on regional accents and individual speech patterns.