The five tones
Every Thai syllable carries one of five tones, described by Chao tone numbers that trace the pitch from start to finish on a 1 to 5 scale. The five tones are:
- Tone 1, mid, saman (33): sing one steady note in the middle of your range. Example: คา kha, stuck.
- Tone 2, low, ek (21): start low-mid and drop all the way to the bottom, and stay down. Example: ข่า kha, galangal.
- Tone 3, falling, tho (51): start near the top and fall all the way to the bottom. Example: ค่า kha, value.
- Tone 4, high, tri (45): start in the middle and climb straight to near the top, without dipping first. Example: ค้า kha, to trade.
- Tone 5, rising, chattawa (214): start low-mid, dip down low, then climb all the way to the top. Example: ขา kha, leg.
The Chao numbers are the standard textbook values. Real speakers vary: acoustic studies report falling closer to 43, high closer to 44, and rising closer to 323, so the app accepts a close fit, not an exact one.
Thai Tone Trainer judges your pitch against the target's level AND shape. A low voice and a high voice are both judged against their own calibrated range, so the check works for any voice.
How a Thai syllable gets its tone
A Thai syllable's tone is fixed by three things together: the consonant class of its initial consonant (high, mid, or low), the syllable type (live, with a long vowel or a sonorant ending, or dead, with a short vowel and a stop ending), and the tone mark (none, mai ek, mai tho, mai tri, or mai chattawa). No single one of these decides the tone on its own. Mai ek gives a falling tone on a low-class consonant, a low tone on a mid-class consonant, and a low tone on a high-class consonant. The full five-tone contrast only exists in live syllables; dead syllables allow only low, falling, and high. Thai Tone Trainer grades your pitch contour only: it does not check spelling or tone rules. Use a textbook or teacher for the rules, and this app for the sound.
Calibrate your voice range first
Before practising, press Set my voice range and slide slowly from your lowest to your highest comfortable note, saying a steady "ahhh" while you slide. The app measures your range from that slide and grades every later utterance against it: 1.0 means the top of your range, 0.0 the bottom. This is what makes the level tones gradeable: mid sits near 0.55, low falls from 0.30 to 0.05, falling drops from 0.95 to 0.10, high climbs from 0.60 to 0.95, and rising dips to 0.10 before climbing to 0.80. Without calibration, a flat tone at any height could be any tone. You can recalibrate any time in Settings, and your range is stored only on your device.
The 15 syllables
Three syllables per tone, so you hear how the tone alone changes the word. The first set is the classic kha minimal set: one syllable, five different words.
- Mid: คา kha stuck, มา ma come, ดี di good.
- Low: ข่า kha galangal, ข่าว khao news, ไก่ kai chicken.
- Falling: ค่า kha value, ข้าว khao rice, ใกล้ klai near.
- High: ค้า kha to trade, น้ำ nam water, ป้า pa aunt.
- Rising: ขา kha leg, หมา ma dog, เขา khao he; mountain.
Tone pairs: 12 real words on the hard contrasts
Knowing single tones is only half the skill. In real speech, tones come in pairs, and the practice words are chosen to drill the confusable contrasts: high vs rising, mid vs low, and falling vs the rest.
- High vs rising: ห้องน้ำ bathroom (3-4), น้ำชา tea (4-1), หมาแมว dogs and cats (5-1), หมูสับ minced pork (5-4).
- Mid vs low: ขอบคุณ thank you (2-1), ตลาด market (2-2), กาแฟ coffee (1-1).
- With falling: ดีมาก very good (1-3), ขาเข้า entrance (5-3), ข้าวผัด fried rice (3-2), เสื้อผ้า clothes (3-3).
- With rising: อาหาร food (1-5).
Tone pairs unlock at 50 points, after you have the single tones down. The app splits your utterance at the gap between syllables and checks each half against its target tone. If the first syllable is right and the second is wrong, the hint says so: Second syllable, then the named fix.
How the live check works
Your browser samples the microphone and measures your pitch with autocorrelation, a standard signal-processing method that finds how often your voice waveform repeats. No model is downloaded and no audio is sent anywhere. Your pitch contour is measured against your calibrated range and compared to the five standard target shapes. A match needs a close fit and a clear margin over the next-best tone; a contour sitting halfway between mid and low is honestly reported as unclear rather than guessed. Press Hear the target to hear any tone shape as a gliding tone placed inside your own range before you say it.
High vs rising, and mid vs low: the confusable pairs
Two pairs trip learners up most. High vs rising: both end high. The difference is the start: high rises straight from the middle, rising dips down low first. Mid vs low: mid stays flat in the middle, low falls all the way to the bottom. When your contour sits between two tones, the app says so honestly instead of guessing, and names the difference to aim for.
Quiz, points, levels and badges
Quiz mode asks for 8 items in a random order: +10 points per match, +20 bonus for a perfect round. Levels run New Voice, Tone Learner, Tone Star, and Master of Thai Tones. Badges cover the first matched tone, practising all 15 syllables, practising all 12 tone pairs, a perfect quiz round, and practising on seven days in a row. Confetti and chimes celebrate wins, and both can be turned off in Settings. Practice stays the core: the games are there to pull you back for one more tone.
Your voice never leaves your device
Voice frames are analysed on your device and discarded. The page security policy blocks connections to every outside server. There is no account, no analytics, no recording, and no cookie. The built-in Offline proof panel shows a live log of every network request the page makes, lets you simulate a fully offline session, shows exactly what is stored on your device, and deletes it all with one button. The app works offline after your first visit. Pitch tracking approximates tones, and regional variation exists: the target shapes describe standard Central Thai citation tones. Native-speaker review is being sought in parallel, not as a gate.
Learning Vietnamese too? Try the Vietnamese Tone Trainer, the same live pitch feedback for Vietnamese's six tones. For Mandarin, Mandarin Tone Trainer coaches four tones the same private, on-device way. For Cantonese, Cantonese Tone Trainer coaches all six Cantonese tones. For sign language, Fingerspell teaches the ASL alphabet. Learning Japanese pitch accent too? Try the Japanese Pitch Accent Trainer, which coaches Tokyo pitch patterns with the same private, on-device feedback. Learning Taiwanese Hokkien too? Try the Taiwanese Hokkien Tone Trainer, which coaches all seven Hokkien tones the same private, on-device way. Learning Yoruba too? Try the Yoruba Tone Trainer, which coaches Yoruba's three tones the same private, on-device way.
This is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Everything runs on your device: no video, audio or images are sent anywhere. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a qualified Thai teacher or a native-speaker community, linked on the Resources page.