Sound Right

/v/ — the V sound as in very, have, love

Main spellings (~99%)

⟨v⟩ ~85%

The letter ⟨v⟩ is extremely reliable — it almost always makes the /v/ sound.

very voice give over every never even live drive have

⟨ve⟩ ~14%

Word-finally, ⟨v⟩ is almost always followed by a silent ⟨e⟩.

love move save leave have give live above
English spelling rule: Words almost never end in just ⟨v⟩ — there's nearly always a silent ⟨e⟩ after it (love, have, give, move). The few exceptions are recent borrowings like "rev" or abbreviations.

Unusual spellings (~1%)

⟨f⟩

Exactly one common word spells /v/ with ⟨f⟩.

of
Just one word: "Of" is the only common English word where ⟨f⟩ makes the /v/ sound. This is a historical quirk — the word was once pronounced with /f/ but shifted to /v/ while keeping its spelling.

⟨ph⟩

One name uses ⟨ph⟩ for /v/.

stephen
Stephen vs Steven: The name "Stephen" is pronounced exactly like "Steven" — the ⟨ph⟩ makes /v/, not /f/! This is the only common English word where ⟨ph⟩ = /v/.

/v/ vs /f/

Don't confuse /v/ with /f/! The only difference is voicing — /v/ is voiced (vocal cords vibrate) while /f/ is voiceless (no vibration). Compare: van vs fan, leave vs leaf, save vs safe.