shoe
/ʃuː/
shoo
Tier 1 · First words · Ages 1.5–4
Clothing
The 5 clothing words a Bengali- or Hindi-speaking learner meets first — shirt, shoe, hat and the rest — each with a picture, the IPA spelling, an easy respelling, and audio in all three languages.
15 words3 topics45 audio clips
Why these words come first
A learner is dressed and undressed every day, so shirt, pants, shoe, sock and hat sit in tier 1 of the TotWord catalog — tiers are ordered by how often a word turns up in an ordinary day, not by theme. Other clothing words that are less common in daily conversation — belt, jacket, scarf — wait for a later tier, even though they belong to the same theme.
Each card below carries the picture, the English word, its IPA transcription, a plain-English respelling you can read aloud without training, and the meaning in Bengali or Hindi. Tap the round button to hear it in the language you picked above.
Pick one topic per sitting — five words is a full session. Say the respelling, not the IPA, when reading aloud. Play the English clip first and the home-language clip second.
Clothing 1
shirt
/ʃɜːrt/
shert
pants
/pænts/
pants
sock
/sɑːk/
sahk
hat
/hæt/
hat
Clothing 2
dress
/drɛs/
dres
jacket
/ˈdʒækɪt/
jak-it
skirt
/skɜːrt/
skert
belt
/bɛlt/
belt
scarf
/skɑːrf/
skarf
Clothing 3
cap
/kæp/
kap
coat
/koʊt/
koht
sweater
/ˈswɛtər/
swet-er
boot
/buːt/
boot
glove
/ɡlʌv/
gluhv
More word topics
Keep going with another set of everyday English words.
Actions8 topics · 40 wordsAdverbs1 topics · 5 wordsAnimals4 topics · 20 wordsAuxiliary Verbs2 topics · 10 wordsBathroom2 topics · 10 wordsBedroom2 topics · 10 wordsBirds1 topics · 5 wordsBody Parts6 topics · 30 wordsColors2 topics · 10 wordsConjunctions1 topics · 5 wordsDeterminers1 topics · 5 wordsEveryday1 topics · 5 wordsFamily3 topics · 15 wordsFarm Animals2 topics · 10 wordsFeelings3 topics · 15 wordsFirst Words4 topics · 20 wordsFood3 topics · 15 wordsFruits3 topics · 15 wordsHome1 topics · 5 wordsHome Objects3 topics · 15 wordsInsects1 topics · 5 wordsJobs1 topics · 5 wordsKitchen2 topics · 10 wordsMeals2 topics · 10 wordsNumbers3 topics · 15 wordsOpposites5 topics · 25 wordsOutdoors3 topics · 15 wordsPeople2 topics · 10 wordsPlaces2 topics · 10 wordsPosition2 topics · 10 wordsPrepositions1 topics · 5 wordsPronouns3 topics · 15 wordsQuantifiers1 topics · 5 wordsQuestion Words1 topics · 5 wordsSchool2 topics · 10 wordsSea Animals1 topics · 5 wordsShapes2 topics · 10 wordsTime2 topics · 10 wordsToys2 topics · 10 wordsVegetables2 topics · 10 wordsVehicles3 topics · 15 wordsWeather1 topics · 5 words
Questions people ask
- Why does “Clothing 1” have only 5 words when the theme covers so much more?
- Every TotWord topic holds exactly 5 words, and only the words a toddler hears most often make tier 1. Belt, jacket and scarf are real clothing words too — they simply come up less in a toddler's day, so they will appear in a later tier.
- Do I have to finish another topic before opening Clothing 1?
- No. Tiers order the topic list by how common the words are; they never lock anything. Any learner can open any topic on any day.
- Why is “pants” written as one word for two legs?
- English treats an item with two identical parts — pants, shoes, socks in a pair — as a plural-shaped word even when a learner points at just one. The home-language word for the same item does not carry that plural shape, so the card's respelling (pants) is worth saying slowly the first time.
Ready to practise?
Turn every word on this page into a quick picture quiz.