Viseme Cheat Sheet
+ Interactive Phoneme to Viseme Chart
- Melinda Ozel
- Published: Jan. 24, 2022
- Updated: Nov. 29, 2025
A visual guide for artists and researchers working on lip sync. This sheet lists American English phonemes and the visemes they commonly map to.
Things to note:
- This sheet is meant to be more of a quick reference. For a deeper dive, refer to my All About Lipsync course or my Speech Reference Guide.
- Each viseme is variable. While some possess fixed characteristics required for mechanical production (e.g. m/b/p will always need the lips to close entirely or nearly entirely), facial actions required for each viseme will fluctuate depending on numerous factors including, but not limited to: individual facial features, coarticulation, emotional context, volume, and other speech-related conditions.
- Visemes in the wild (during natural speech) are much more complicated and context-dependent than the isolated visemes presented in this document; however, being able to observe them in unobstructed form is a helpful first step.
View on desktop to see the Interactive Phoneme to Viseme Chart of English Consonants. (Example below.)
Interactive Phoneme Chart (English Consonants)
To experience the interactive chart, hover over target phonemes to view their corresponding viseme poses.
NOTE: To hear what each phoneme sounds like, visit the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) chart hosted on Cambridge University & Press Assessment.Â
Bilabial
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
(Oral) Stop
p  b
t  d
k  g
Ê”
(Nasal) Stop
m
n
 ŋ
Tap or Flap
 ɾ
Affricate
tʃ  dʒ
h
Fricative
f  v
θ  ð
s  z
ʃ  ʒ
Lateral Approximant
l
What is a viseme?
The word “viseme” is a portmanteau of “visual” and “phoneme.” The term was coined by Cletus G. Fisher in his seminal 1968 paper “Confusions among visually perceived consonants.
From Cletus Fisher himself:
“The phrase visual phoneme has been shortened to viseme, and will be used to refer to any individual and contrastive visually perceived unit.”
How is "viseme" pronounced?
Because Fisher did not specify how to pronounce “viseme,” there is no formal record indicating its pronunciation. You may hear the term pronounced a variety of ways, including “veye-zeem,” “vih-zeem,” “veye-seem,” “vih-seem,” etc. Personally, I prefer “veye-zeem,” but I’m open to considering arguments against it.
How are phonemes mapped to visemes?
How to map phonemes to visemes is a murky area in facial animation and research. There is no standardized set of visemes and no standardized method for how to group phonemes. You will find different mappings everywhere where you go.
Though this ambiguity may be frustrating, how you should cluster phonemes depends heavily on your use case. If you’re in facial animation and (1) want to create simple speech movements, or (2) do not have the ability to represent the tongue, you do not have a strong need to differentiate things like /t/ vs. /k/. However, if your goal is to get as nuanced as possible (and you are able to represent key tongue positions), it would behoove you to consider a more complex grouping system. Reach out to me for tailored help with phoneme-to-viseme mapping.
Consonants
neutral / silent
no sound, relaxed
p/b/m group
p
as in pout
bilabial. plosive, voiceless
slides 3 (closed) & 4 (open)
b
as in buccinator
bilabial, plosive, voiced
slides 1 (closed) & 2 (open)
m
as in masseter
bilabial, nasal, voiced
slides 5
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
ʧ/ʤ/ʃ/ʒ group
ʧ
as in chin
post-alveolar, affricate, voiceless
slide 1
ʤ
as in jaw, gem
post-alveolar, affricate, voiced
slide 2
ʃ
as in shine, spatial
post-alveolar, fricative, voiceless
slide 3
Ê’
as in genre, measure
post-alveolar, fricative, voiced
not shown in slides
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
d/t group
d
as in depressor
alveolar, plosive, voiced
slide 1
t
as in temporalis
alveolar, plosive, voiceless
slide 2
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
f/v group
f
as in face
labiodental, fricative, voiceless
slide 1
v
as in visual
labiodental, fricative, voiced
slide 2
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
g/k group
g
as in guess
velar, plosive, voiced
slide 1
k
as in king
velar, plosive, voiceless
slide 2
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
h
h
as in hippocampus, happy
glottal, fricative, voiceless
realtime, then slowmo
l
l
as in labial
alveolar, lateral, voiced
n
n
as in nasal
alveolar, nasal, voiced
ɹ
as in red
post-alveolar, approximant, voiced
s/z group
s
as in see
alveolar, fricative, voiceless
slide 1
z
as in zygomatic
alveolar, fricative, voiced
slide 2
Slide through carousal, and hover over images to reveal phoneme & phoneme state.
θ/ð (th) group
θ
as in wreath (voiceless)
dental, fricative, voiceless
ð
as in thoracic (voiced)
dental, fricative, voiced
Example not present. ð is in the same viseme category as θ.
Vowels
É‘ (ah)
É‘
as in jaw, cause, stop
æ
æ
as in cat, FACS, zygomaticus
É› (eh)
É›
as in any, kept, levator
i (ee)
i (ee)
as in eel, cheese, meat
ɪ (ih)
ɪ
as in lip, which
u (oo)
u
as in food, rue, mood
ÊŠ (ouh)
ÊŠ
as in puller, look, good
oÊŠ (oh) phoneme
as in lowerer, slow, moat
ɔɪ (oy)
ɔɪ
as in joy, soy, join
É™ (uh)
É™
as in upper, other
Check back soon 🙂
Key Terms
alveolar: tip of tongue touches the gum line behind the teeth (the alveolar ridge)
bilabial: upper and lower lips come together
labiodental: lip touches the teeth (Usually it is the lower lip touching the top teeth; however, an equivalent sound can technically be achieved from the reverse.)
dental: tongue interacts with teeth either by being placed between upper and lower teeth or against back of upper teeth
post-alveolar: tongue is placed right behind the gum line behind teeth
palatal: tongue is raised against the center of mouth roof
velar: back of tongue touches or is held close to the velum (soft palate)
glottal: air sound is produced by stopping flow to glottisÂ
labiovelar approximant: lips and velum both constrict – but not completely (Read more about approximants here.)
How to Cite This Page
APA:
Ozel, M. (2022, January). Viseme Cheat Sheet. Face the FACS. https://melindaozel.com/viseme-cheat-sheet/
BibTeX:
@misc{ozel2022viseme,
author = {Ozel, Melinda},
title = {Viseme Cheat Sheet},
year = {2022},
month = jan,
howpublished = {\url{https://melindaozel.com/viseme-cheat-sheet/}}
}