Broad A Sound: Speech Therapy Guide, Words & Games

The broad A sound is written /ɑ/ in the phonetic alphabet, and most children master it by age 3. This guide covers how to make the broad A sound, 42 practice words split across initial, medial, and final position, and the errors children make most often.

Example Broad A words: on, are, aren, honor (beginning); don, was, not, got (middle); ma, ya, ha, la (end).

The open "ah" vowel in father, hot, stop and car. The mouth is wide open and the tongue sits low and back. In General American this is also the vowel of "cot" — most American speakers use it for words British speakers say with a rounded vowel.