The alphabet

The English alphabet has 26 letters. Each letter has a capital form and a small form, and a name: ⟦A⟧ is called ⟦ay⟧, ⟦B⟧ is called ⟦bee⟧. The letters always come in the same order, called alphabetical order.

Key facts

• The 26 letters in order: ⟦a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z⟧.
• Every letter has a capital letter and a small letter: ⟦A a⟧, ⟦B b⟧, ⟦G g⟧. Some look alike (⟦C c⟧, ⟦S s⟧); some look very different (⟦A a⟧, ⟦R r⟧).
• Five letters are vowels: ⟦a⟧, ⟦e⟧, ⟦i⟧, ⟦o⟧, ⟦u⟧. The other 21 are consonants.
• Watch out for letters that look like mirror images: ⟦b⟧ and ⟦d⟧, ⟦p⟧ and ⟦q⟧.
• To put words in alphabetical order, look at their first letters. If the first letters are the same, look at the second letters: ⟦bat⟧, ⟦bed⟧, ⟦big⟧.

Worked examples