cent

PronouncedSEHNT

/ˈsɛnt/noun

nounA coin or unit of money worth one-hundredth of a dollar or euro.
nounA very small amount of money.

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Syllables

cent

1 syllable

Letters

Word forms:

center cents

Related words (same phonics pattern)

replace surface lace place slice pharmacy

Phonics breakdown

Phonics Rule: Soft C

Sound“s”·/s/

C says /s/ before E, I, or Y, like in 'city' and 'face'.

When C comes before the letters E, I, or Y, it makes the soft /s/ sound instead of the hard /k/ sound. This is called 'Soft C'.

Tip

C is soft before E, I, Y — the city is nice!

Examples

Phonics Rule: Short E

Sound“eh”·/ɛ/

The letter E makes a short sound, like in 'bed' and 'red'.

When the letter E appears in a closed syllable, it usually makes the short E sound “eh”. This is often confused with short I by new readers.

Tip

E says “eh” like an egg on your head.

Examples

Phonics Rule: NT End Blend

Sound“nt”·/nt/

NT at the end of a syllable blends /n/ and /t/ together, like in 'tent', 'mint', and 'want'.

NT is a very common end blend. The nasal /n/ flows into the stop /t/. In fast speech the /t/ is sometimes barely voiced, but both sounds are present.

Tip

NT tents up at the end — tent, mint, hunt!

Examples

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