/l/
The L sound (light and dark L)
English has two L sounds. Light L before a vowel (like, yellow) is bright and forward. Dark L after a vowel (milk, world, feel) pulls the back of the tongue up and sounds almost like 'oo'.
Who this is for: Speakers of Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Portuguese, and children who substitute /w/ or /j/ for /l/.
36 words with IPA · minimal pairs · sentence ladders · free, no signup
Where to put your tongue
- 1Press the tongue tip firmly on the ridge just behind the top front teeth.
- 2Leave the sides of the tongue open — the air escapes around the sides, not over the tip.
- 3Keep the voice on the whole time: llllll.
- 4For dark L, keep the tip in place but lift the back of the tongue as if saying 'oo'.
- 5Practise holding the L for two seconds before releasing into the next sound.
Common mistakes
- Substituting /r/: 'light' becomes 'right'.
- Substituting /w/: 'love' becomes 'wove' — very common in young children.
- Dropping dark L entirely: 'milk' becomes 'miwk', 'people' becomes 'peopo'.
- Adding a vowel after final L: 'call' becoming 'call-uh'.
Word list
IPA plus a plain respelling — capitals mark the stressed syllable. Read each column slowly first, then at speaking pace.
Light L — start of word
| Word | IPA | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| light | /laɪt/ | LITE |
| little | /ˈlɪt̬.əl/ | LIT-uhl |
| love | /lʌv/ | LUV |
| language | /ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ/ | LANG-gwij |
| literally | /ˈlɪt̬.ɚ.ə.li/ | LIT-ur-uh-lee |
| lawyer | /ˈlɔɪ.jɚ/ | LOY-yur |
| leisure | /ˈliː.ʒɚ/ | LEE-zhur |
| lieutenant | /luːˈtɛn.ənt/ | loo-TEN-uhnt |
Light L — middle
| Word | IPA | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| yellow | /ˈjɛl.oʊ/ | YEL-oh |
| believe | /bɪˈliːv/ | bih-LEEV |
| salary | /ˈsæl.ɚ.i/ | SAL-ur-ee |
| jewelry | /ˈdʒuː.əl.ri/ | JOO-uhl-ree |
| million | /ˈmɪl.jən/ | MIL-yuhn |
| colleague | /ˈkɑː.liːɡ/ | KAH-leeg |
| delicious | /dɪˈlɪʃ.əs/ | dih-LISH-uhs |
| reliable | /rɪˈlaɪ.ə.bəl/ | rih-LY-uh-buhl |
Dark L — after a vowel
| Word | IPA | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| milk | /mɪlk/ | MILK |
| world | /wɜːrld/ | WURLD |
| help | /hɛlp/ | HELP |
| field | /fiːld/ | FEELD |
| bulb | /bʌlb/ | BULB |
| twelfth | /twɛlfθ/ | TWELFTH |
| film | /fɪlm/ | FILM |
| health | /hɛlθ/ | HELTH |
| gold | /ɡoʊld/ | GOHLD |
| wolf | /wʊlf/ | WULF |
Final L and -le endings
| Word | IPA | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| people | /ˈpiː.pəl/ | PEE-puhl |
| available | /əˈveɪ.lə.bəl/ | uh-VAY-luh-buhl |
| vulnerable | /ˈvʌl.nɚ.ə.bəl/ | VUL-nur-uh-buhl |
| comfortable | /ˈkʌmf.tɚ.bəl/ | KUMF-tur-buhl |
| terrible | /ˈtɛr.ə.bəl/ | TAIR-uh-buhl |
| normally | /ˈnɔːr.mə.li/ | NOR-muh-lee |
| actually | /ˈæk.tʃu.ə.li/ | AK-choo-uh-lee |
| usually | /ˈjuː.ʒu.ə.li/ | YOO-zhoo-uh-lee |
| careful | /ˈkɛr.fəl/ | KAIR-fuhl |
| beautiful | /ˈbjuː.t̬ə.fəl/ | BYOO-tuh-fuhl |
Minimal pairs
Say each pair out loud, three times. If the two words sound identical, the sound is not landing yet.
light vs right
tip touches vs tip free
lock vs rock
the standard /l/–/r/ test
collect vs correct
mid-word contrast
led vs wed
/l/ vs /w/ substitution
fill vs fear
dark L vs r-coloured vowel
goal vs go
final dark L must be heard
Sentence ladders
Start with the single word, then add length. Never move up a rung until the one below is clean.
little
a little lamb
Little Lily lets her little lamb loose.
milk
cold milk
Well-chilled milk filled twelve small bottles.
world
the whole world
The world's most reliable lawyer felt well.
people
lovely people
Eleven lovely people were available and willing.
Tongue twisters for this sound
Practise these with your microphone and get an instant accuracy score.
Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
hard · practise with the mic →
Clean clams crammed in clean cans.
medium · practise with the mic →
Truly rural. Truly rural. Truly rural.
hard · practise with the mic →
Blue glue gun, green glue gun.
medium · practise with the mic →
Lovely lemon liniment.
medium · practise with the mic →
Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.
hard · practise with the mic →
A ten-minute daily routine
- 1. Two minutes on the mouth position, in front of a mirror.
- 2. Three minutes reading the word list aloud, slowly.
- 3. Two minutes on minimal pairs, three times each.
- 4. Two minutes climbing one sentence ladder.
- 5. One minute on a tongue twister — slow first, fast last.
- 6. Record yourself once a week and compare.