For example, the pronunciation of "tube" is [tjuːb]. If I learned "tube", I know how to spell "student" which is [ˈstjuːdnt], because "tube" and "student" share [tjuː].
So, is there an English word subset, which can demonstrate almost all familiar pronunciations?
I think you are looking for a phoneme/grapheme correspondence. Here is one adapted from A Catalog of Spellings:
| phoneme | graphemes |
|---|---|
| /æ/ | a (sack), 97%; a_e (have), 3% |
| /eɪ/ | a (bacon), 45%; a_e (bake), 35%; ai (raid), 9%; ay (play), 6% |
| /eɪə/ | are (bare), 32%; air (fair), 30%; ere (there), 28%; ear (bear), 8% |
| /ɑː/ | ar (bar), 89%; are (are), 5%; ear (heart), 3% |
| /ɒː/ | o (lost), 41%; a (ball), 22%; au (haul), 19%; aw (saw) 10% |
| /b/ | b (big), 97% |
| /tʃ/ | ch (chair), 55%, t (feature), 31%; tch (catch), 11% |
| /d/ | d (do), 98% |
| /ə/ | o (other), 24%; u (up), 20%; a (alarm), 19%; i (panic), 18%; e (enough), 11%; ou (famous), 5% |
| /e/ | e (bed), 91%; ea (bread) 4% |
| /iː/ | y (very), 41%; e (beware), 40%; ee (feet), 6%; ea (seat), 6% |
| /iə/ | er (experience), 32%; ear (fear), 25%; eer (deer), 18%; e_e (here), 14%; ier (tier), 7% |
| /əl/ | le (table), 95% |
| /ɛ/ | er (hammer), 77%; or (odor), 12%; ar (cellar), 8% |
| /f/ | f (fox), 78%; ph (phone), 12%; ff (stuff), 9% |
| /g/ | g (girl), 88%; gg (egg), 5%; |
| /h/ | h (hot), 98% |
| /ɪ/ | i (hit), 92%; i-e (give), 6% [y (gym), 2%] |
| /ɑi/ | i_e (pipe), 37%; i (Bible), 37%; y (by), 14%; igh (right), 6% |
| /dʒ/ | ge (age), 66%; j (jet), 22%; dge (edge), 5%; d (soldier), 3% |
| /k/ | c (car), 73%; k (kit), 13%; ck (sick), 6%; ch (choir), 3% |
| /ks/ | x (six), 90%; cs (epics), 10% |
| /kw/ | qu (quit), 97% |
| /l/ | l (leg), 91%; ll (tell), 9% |
| /m/ | m (mad), 94%; mm (dimmer), 4% |
| /n/ | n (no), 97% [kn (know)<1%] |
| /ŋ/ | ng (sing), 59%; n (monkey), 41% |
| /ɒ/ | o (hot), 94%; a (want), 5% |
| /əʊ/ | o (focus), 73%; o_e (hope), 14%; oa (boat), 5%; ow (row), 5% |
| /ɔɪ/ | oi (oil), 62%; oy (toy), 32% |
| /ʊ/ | u (bush), 61%; oo (hook), 35%; o (woman), 5% |
| /ɔ/ | or (for), 97%; ore (core), 3% |
| /aʊ/ | ou (shout), 56%; ow (howl), 29%; ou_e (house), 13% |
| /p/ | p (pin), 96%, pp (happen), 4% |
| /ɹ/ | r (run), 97% |
| /s/ | s (say), 73%, c (cereal), 17%; ss (toss), 7% |
| /ʃ/ | ti (action), 53%; sh (shy), 26%; ci (special), 5%; ssi (fission), 3% |
| /t/ | t (top), 97% |
| /θ/ | th (bath) 100% |
| /ʌ/ | u (bus) 86%; o (ton), 8% |
| /uː/ | u (human), 59%; u_e (use), 19%; oo (moon), 11%; ew (few) 4% |
| /v/ | v (very), 99.5% |
| /w/ | w (way), 92%; u (suede), 7.5% |
| /j/ | i (onion), 55%; y (yes), 44% |
| /z/ | s (was), 64%; z (zero), 23%; es (flies), 4%, x (xylophone), 4% |
| /ʒ/ | si (incision), 49%; s (pleasure), 33%; g (garage), 15% |
This table gives a list of words: "sack, have, bacon, bake ...." each of which illustrates a way of writing each of the phonemes, (or common blends). It, therefore, is a subset of English that illustrates the most common spellings of each pronunciation.
The pronunciation of /j/ in the grapheme "tu" is not common enough (less than 3%) to make this list.
There are a few surprises for me in this table: The "ough" words are rare enough not to appear. "kn" and "gn" are also rare. The short /ɪ/ is rarely written "y", but the long /i/ is usually written "y" or "e", and the frequncy of "ee" or "ea" is much less. The phoneme /j/ (in yellow) is more commonly written "i" than "y". The /z/ phoneme is usually written "s", and so on.
Most dictionaries contain a guide to IPA pronunciation. Take your pick.
