There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but there are 44 sounds in the English language. This means that the number of sounds in a word is not always the same as the number of letters. The word 'CAT' has three letters and three sounds but the word 'CATCH' has five letters but still only three sounds. If we write these words using phonemic symbols, we can see exactly how many sounds they have. CAT is written /k æ t/ CATCH is written /k æ ʧ/ In 'CATCH' the three letters TCH are one sound represented by one phonemic.
