Question 43

The word "key" has two phonemes.

Phonemes are the distinct units of sound in a word. In the case of the word "key," it consists of two phonemes: /k/ and /iː/.

A) Zero

This option is incorrect because the word "key" clearly contains sounds that can be identified as phonemes. There are no phonemes if the word has no sound, which is not the case here.

B) One

This option suggests that there is only one phoneme in the word "key." However, "key" has two distinct sounds: the /k/ sound at the beginning and the /iː/ sound that follows, thus making this option incorrect.

C) Two

This option is correct as the word "key" indeed comprises two phonemes: the initial /k/ sound and the vowel sound /iː/. This reflects the standard phonetic breakdown of the word.

D) Three

This option is incorrect because the word "key" does not contain three distinct phonemes. It only has two sounds, so this option does not accurately represent the phonemic structure of the word.

Conclusion

The correct identification of the number of phonemes in "key" is two, as it includes the sounds /k/ and /iː/. Options A and B fail to recognize the distinct sounds present, while option D overestimates the number of phonemes. Thus, option C accurately reflects the phonemic composition of the word.