/eə/ — choose the word that contains the sound represented by the given phonetic symbol

Analyze the question: You are asked to find the word that contains the vowel sound /eə/. This is a diphthong, the sound in "air," "care," and "there."

Explain the concept: /eə/ is a centring diphthong. It starts with the mouth in the "eh" position and glides toward a soft "uh" (schwa). It is usually spelled air, are, ear (as in bear), ere, and so on.

Check each option:

• A. stir is /stɜː/. This has the long vowel /ɜː/, not /eə/.
• B. spare is /speə/. The "are" spelling gives /eə/, so this matches.
• C. fear is /fɪə/. This has the diphthong /ɪə/, which is a different sound.
• D. leer is /lɪə/. This also has /ɪə/.

Answer: The word containing /eə/ is spare, which is option B.

Tip: Group the centring diphthongs by their first sound:

• /ɪə/ is the "ear" in fear, beer, here, leer.
• /eə/ is the "air" in spare, care, hair, there, bear.
• /ʊə/ is the "oor" in tour, poor, cure.

If the spelling has air, are, or ere (as in there), think /eə/. If it has ear or eer, it is usually /ɪə/. Beware of exceptions such as bear and pear, which are /eə/.