Every Thai consonant, ก ไก่ to ฮ นกฮูก, with its picture word, its name, the real sound, its tone class, and how often you will actually meet it.
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This is the order Thai dictionaries use and the order Thai children recite, ก ข ฃ ค ฅ ฆ ง and on to ฮ. The last column is how common each letter is in written Thai, from the ThaiStat corpus at Chulalongkorn University: 1 is the most frequent letter, 44 the least. It is worth more than the alphabet order, because it tells you which letters to learn this week and which can wait until you meet them in a name.
| Letter | Name | Picture | Romanized | Sound | Meaning | Class | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ก | กอ ไก่ |  | Gor Gai | /k/no puff | Chicken | mid | #3 |
| ข | ขอ ไข่ |  | Khor Khai | /kʰ/puff | Egg | high | #20 |
| ฃ | ขอ ขวด |  | Khor Khuat | /kʰ/puff | Bottle (obsolete) | high | #43 |
| ค | คอ ควาย |  | Khor Khwai | /kʰ/puff | Buffalo | low | #16 |
| ฅ | คอ คน |  | Khor Khon | /kʰ/puff | Person (obsolete) | low | #44 |
| ฆ | คอ ระฆัง |  | Khor Rakhang | /kʰ/puff | Temple bell | low | #41 |
| ง | งอ งู |  | Ngor Ngu | /ŋ/ | Snake | low | #5 |
| จ | จอ จาน |  | Jor Jaan | /tɕ/no puff | Plate | mid | #18 |
| ฉ | ฉอ ฉิ่ง |  | Chor Ching | /tɕʰ/puff | Hand cymbals | high | #32 |
| ช | ชอ ช้าง |  | Chor Chang | /tɕʰ/puff | Elephant | low | #21 |
| ซ | ซอ โซ่ |  | Sor So | /s/ | Chain | low | #27 |
| ฌ | ชอ เฌอ |  | Chor Choe | /tɕʰ/puff | Tree | low | #42 |
| ญ | ยอ หญิง |  | Yor Ying | /j/ | Woman | low | #29 |
| ฎ | ดอ ชฎา |  | Dor Cha-da | /d/ | Headdress | mid | #36 |
| ฏ | ตอ ปฏัก |  | Tor Pa-tak | /t/no puff | Elephant goad | mid | #37 |
| ฐ | ฐอ ฐาน |  | Thor Than | /tʰ/puff | Pedestal base | high | #31 |
| ฑ | ทอ มณโฑ |  | Thor Montho | /tʰ/puff | Queen Montho | low | #39 |
| ฒ | ทอ ผู้เฒ่า |  | Thor Phu Thao | /tʰ/puff | Elder | low | #35 |
| ณ | นอ เณร |  | Nor Nen | /n/ | Novice monk | low | #26 |
| ด | ดอ เด็ก |  | Dor Dek | /d/ | Child | mid | #10 |
| ต | ตอ เต่า |  | Tor Tao | /t/no puff | Turtle | mid | #12 |
| ถ | ถอ ถุง |  | Thor Thung | /tʰ/puff | Sack | high | #25 |
| ท | ทอ ทหาร |  | Thor Thahan | /tʰ/puff | Soldier | low | #9 |
| ธ | ทอ ธง |  | Thor Thong | /tʰ/puff | Flag | low | #22 |
| น | นอ หนู |  | Nor Nu | /n/ | Mouse | low | #2 |
| บ | บอ ใบไม้ |  | Bor Bai Mai | /b/ | Leaf | mid | #15 |
| ป | ปอ ปลา |  | Por Pla | /p/no puff | Fish | mid | #17 |
| ผ | ผอ ผึ้ง |  | Phor Phueng | /pʰ/puff | Bee | high | #23 |
| ฝ | ฝอ ฝา |  | For Fa | /f/ | Lid | high | #34 |
| พ | พอ พาน |  | Phor Phan | /pʰ/puff | Offering tray | low | #19 |
| ฟ | ฟอ ฟัน |  | For Fan | /f/ | Teeth | low | #33 |
| ภ | พอ สำเภา |  | Phor Samphao | /pʰ/puff | Sailing ship | low | #30 |
| ม | มอ ม้า |  | Mor Ma | /m/ | Horse | low | #6 |
| ย | ยอ ยักษ์ |  | Yor Yak | /j/ | Giant | low | #7 |
| ร | รอ เรือ |  | Ror Ruea | /r/ | Boat | low | #1 |
| ล | ลอ ลิง |  | Lor Ling | /l/ | Monkey | low | #11 |
| ว | วอ แหวน |  | Wor Waen | /w/ | Ring | low | #8 |
| ศ | ศอ ศาลา |  | Sor Sala | /s/ | Pavilion | high | #24 |
| ษ | ษอ ฤๅษี |  | Sor Ruesi | /s/ | Sage | high | #28 |
| ส | สอ เสือ |  | Sor Suea | /s/ | Tiger | high | #13 |
| ห | หอ หีบ |  | Hor Hip | /h/ | Treasure chest | high | #14 |
| ฬ | ลอ จุฬา |  | Lor Chula | /l/ | Star kite | low | #40 |
| อ | ออ อ่าง |  | Or Ang | /ʔ/ | Basin | mid | #4 |
| ฮ | ฮอ นกฮูก |  | Hor Nok Huk | /h/ | Owl | low | #38 |
The tone classes are explained properly on the full chart page. The short version: the class of the first consonant, together with any tone mark and the way the syllable ends, decides which of the five tones you say. It is the one thing worth memorising about every letter, which is why it is printed on every card.
The number that scares people is 44. The number that matters is 21, because that is how many different initial sounds those 44 letters make. Six letters are "th". Five are "kh". Four are "s". Thai inherited the extras from Sanskrit and Pali and kept them because each one carries a different tone class, so the spelling tells you the tone.
For each sound, learn the most common letter first. That is the one listed first below. The rest you can pick up as you meet them.
| Sound | IPA | Letters (most common first) | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| r | /r/ | ร | a tapped r, close to the r in Spanish "pero" |
| n | /n/ | น ณ | the n in "no" |
| k (no puff) | /k/ | ก | the k in "skin" |
| glottal stop | /ʔ/ | อ | the catch in the middle of "uh-oh" |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ง | the ng in "singer" |
| m | /m/ | ม | the m in "man" |
| y | /j/ | ย ญ | the y in "yes" |
| w | /w/ | ว | the w in "wan" |
| th (puff) | /tʰ/ | ท ธ ถ ฐ ฒ ฑ | the t in "top" |
| d | /d/ | ด ฎ | the d in "dog" |
| l | /l/ | ล ฬ | the l in "lamp" |
| t (no puff) | /t/ | ต ฏ | the t in "stop" |
| s | /s/ | ส ศ ซ ษ | the s in "sun" |
| h | /h/ | ห ฮ | the h in "hat" |
| b | /b/ | บ | the b in "boy" |
| kh (puff) | /kʰ/ | ค ข ฆ ฃ ฅ | the k in "kite" |
| p (no puff) | /p/ | ป | the p in "spin" |
| j | /tɕ/ | จ | the j in "jar", with no puff and no buzz |
| ph (puff) | /pʰ/ | พ ผ ภ | the p in "pin" |
| ch (puff) | /tɕʰ/ | ช ฉ ฌ | the ch in "cheese" |
| f | /f/ | ฟ ฝ | the f in "fan" |
Four of those sounds come in pairs that English treats as one letter: k and kh, t and th, p and ph, j and ch. The difference is a puff of air. Hold a hand in front of your mouth and say "pin" then "spin": the first p puffs, the second does not. Thai spells those as different letters, and getting the puff right is the single biggest pronunciation fix an English speaker can make. The chart marks every paired letter as puff or no puff for exactly this reason.
These letters exist for words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali: religion, royalty, government, the names of people and places, and a lot of technical vocabulary. They are real letters and you will see them on every temple sign and in every Thai name, but none of them is among the 20 most common, and several sit at the very bottom of the frequency list. Learn to recognise them; do not start with them.
The pairs ฎ/ด and ฏ/ต are the ones worth a second look: they sound identical and look nearly identical, apart from a small curl at the bottom of the Sanskrit one. The look-alike list on the main chart page covers the rest.
ฃ (Khor Khuat, bottle) and ฅ (Khor Khon, person) were dropped from everyday spelling in the early twentieth century, when the words that used them were respelled with ข and ค. They are still counted in the 44, still taught in the alphabet song, and still on the keyboard, but you will not meet them outside historical texts and the occasional shop sign trying to look old. They are the last two letters on this page's frequency list. Know what they are and move on.
One square card per letter with the picture, the name, the real sound and the class. Save the ones you are learning to your phone, put them in Anki, or print a handful. Tap a card for the full-size image.
A chart builds recognition. Recall, the thing that lets you read a sign without thinking, only comes from producing the letters yourself. GorGai has three modes for exactly that, and all of them work on the consonants:
All three let you filter by tone class or by the puff pairs, so you can drill the eleven high-class letters, or just the six "th" letters, on their own.
There are 44 Thai consonants. Two of them, ฃ (Khor Khuat) and ฅ (Khor Khon), have not been used in modern Thai for about a century but are still counted and still sit on the keyboard, so in practice you learn 42.
The 44 letters make only 21 initial sounds. Six letters make "th", five make "kh", four make "s". The duplicates exist because the letters came from Sanskrit and Pali, which had more distinctions than Thai keeps, and because Thai uses the different letters to carry different tone classes.
Learn them in order of how often they appear, not in alphabet order. The fifteen most frequent letters (ร น ก อ ง ม ย ว ท ด ล ต ส ห บ) cover most of what you will read on signs and menus. The table on this page shows the frequency rank of every letter.
It is the letter's name word. Thai names each consonant with a word that starts with it, the way English says "A for apple": ก is ก ไก่, "gor gai", gai meaning chicken. Thai speakers use the full name when spelling aloud, so the pictures are not decoration. They are how you will hear the letters referred to.
Both, depending on the word. On its own ห is the "h" sound (หา, to look for). In front of a low-class consonant like น or ม it is silent and only changes the tone class of the syllable, as in หนู (mouse), which starts with an n sound but takes high-class tones.
Because the romanization is trying to say "not the k in kite". English k always has a puff of air; ก has none, and to an English ear a k without a puff sounds closer to g. The IPA on this chart writes it /k/ and marks it "no puff", which is the honest description: it is the k in "skin".
Part of the GorGai Thai alphabet chart, which also covers the 32 vowels, the tone marks, and how to read a syllable. Letter names, classes and romanizations follow Thailand's Royal Institute standards and the Gor Gai curriculum; frequency ranks come from the ThaiStat corpus at Chulalongkorn University. Free to use and share with a credit, CC BY 4.0. Last updated 2026-09-06.
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