Each digit is represented by one family of consonant sounds. Some sounds are not not used: 'w', 'h', and 'y' (remember as 'why'). Vowels do not carry any meaning, so that they can be used as 'fillers' when composing words.

So, what does the word 'dog' stand for? 'd' = 1 and 'hard-g' = 7, so 'dog' is 17. Silent letters do not count. For example, in 'debt' the 'b' is silent. Only the 'd' and the t' sounds count, so that 'debt' is 11 ('d' = 1 and 't' = 1). In a word like 'though', only the 'th' sound codes a digit. The other letters are either vowels or silent, so that 'though' is 1.

Some letter combinations are ambiguous. In that case, you have to decide for yourself what they mean, depending on how the word sounds to you. For examlpe, 'ng' as in 'king' is phonetically similar to 'n' and can thus be taken to mean 2. For simplicity, we will always treat it as an 'n' and 'hard-g' combination, so that 'ng' = 27.

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