Vowel sounds
English has more vowel sounds than vowel letters, so the same letter can be pronounced differently in different words, and different letters can share the same sound. Short vowel sounds include those in "bit," "bet," "cat," "cut," "hot," and "put." Long vowel sounds include those in "see," "car," "saw," "too," and "her." JAMB questions usually give an underlined letter in a keyword and ask which option word has the same (or a different) vowel sound.
Example 1: Which word has the same vowel sound as the underlined letter in "s__ea__t" (seat)? Options: (a) bread (b) neat (c) great (d) head
"Seat" uses the long "ee" sound. Of the options, only "neat" shares that exact sound -- "bread" and "head" use the short "e" sound, and "great" uses a completely different vowel sound (like "ay").
Diphthongs
A diphthong is one syllable where the sound glides between two vowel positions, common examples being the sounds in "day," "my," "boy," "how," "go," "here," "there," and "sure." These are frequently confused with monophthongs (single, steady vowel sounds) in exam questions.
Example 2: Which word has a different vowel sound from the others? Options: (a) toy (b) boil (c) coin (d) food
"Toy," "boil," and "coin" all share the same gliding "oy" diphthong. "Food" uses a long, steady monophthong instead, making it the odd one out.
Consonant sounds
Consonants come in voiced/voiceless pairs made the same way in the mouth, differing only in whether the vocal cords vibrate: /p/-/b/, /t/-/d/, /k/-/g/, /f/-/v/, /s/-/z/. Letter combinations can also represent a single consonant sound, such as "sh" in "ship," "ch" in "chair," "th" in "think" (voiceless) versus "th" in "this" (voiced), and "ng" in "sing."
Example 3: Which word has the same consonant sound as the underlined letters in "thi__n__k"? Options: (a) this (b) that (c) three (d) then
"Think" uses the voiceless "th" sound (no vocal cord vibration). "Three" shares that same voiceless sound, while "this," "that," and "then" all use the voiced "th" instead.
Silent letters
Many English words keep a letter in spelling that is no longer pronounced. Common patterns: "b" after "m" at a word's end (comb, climb, thumb), "k" before "n" at a word's start (know, knee, knife), "l" in some words with "al" or "ol" (half, walk, talk, calm), "w" before "r" (write, wrong, wrap), and silent "h" in some words (hour, honest, honour).
Example 4: Which letter is silent in "psychology"?
The "p" at the start is silent -- the word is pronounced starting with the "s" sound, a pattern shared by other Greek-derived words like "pneumonia" and "psalm."
Word and sentence stress
Many two-syllable English words change meaning depending on which syllable is stressed -- typically the first syllable for a noun and the second for the related verb: 'CONtent (satisfied, or as a noun meaning "what's inside") versus con'TENT is not how this pair works, but classic exam examples include 'PROduce (the noun, meaning farm goods) versus pro'DUCE (the verb, meaning to make), and 'REcord (the noun) versus re'CORD (the verb).
Example 5: Which syllable is stressed in "record" when it is used as a verb, as in "Please record the meeting"?
As a verb, the stress falls on the second syllable: re'CORD. When the same word is a noun ("I have a record of the meeting"), the stress shifts to the first syllable: 'REcord.
Rhymes and homophones
Rhyme questions ask which word ends with the same sound as a given word -- judged by sound, not spelling, so "though" rhymes with "go" despite looking very different. Homophone questions test words that sound identical but are spelled differently and mean different things, such as "flower"/"flour," "wait"/"weight," and "there"/"their"/"they're."
Example 6: Which word rhymes with "cough"? Options: (a) rough (b) though (c) bough (d) enough
Despite all four words ending in "-ough," they are pronounced differently. "Cough" rhymes with "off." Among the options, "rough" and "enough" rhyme with each other (ending in an "-uff" sound) but not with "cough" -- and neither do "though" (rhymes with "go") or "bough" (rhymes with "cow"). In practice, JAMB's correct answer for this classic set depends on the exact option list given, which is why this topic rewards learning specific word groups rather than guessing from spelling alone.