Polar Games
Guide

Onomatopoeia examples: 50 sound words

What onomatopoeia is, how it differs from interjections and 50 examples of animal sounds, object sounds, nature sounds and people sounds.

By Polarzinho ·

An excited Polarzinho next to a blender as a peach drops in, with star-shaped comic bubbles and a little car honking

Munch, munch, munch. That is the sound of a panda eating bamboo, and also a great example of onomatopoeia.

Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound: a dog barking, a clock ticking, a sneeze. Here are 50 examples sorted by type.

Play Plop! Fruit Merge Play Beep Out! Play Ricopop

Onomatopoeia or interjection?

Onomatopoeia imitates a sound (tick-tock, woof). An interjection expresses a feeling (wow!, ouch!, phew!). Some words can be both, depending on the sentence.

Animal sounds

  • Woof (dog)
  • Meow (cat)
  • Moo (cow)
  • Cock-a-doodle-doo (rooster)
  • Tweet (bird)
  • Quack (duck)
  • Baa (sheep)
  • Oink (pig)
  • Buzz (bee)
  • Ribbit (frog)
  • Hoot (owl)
  • Roar (lion)

Object sounds

  • Tick-tock (clock)
  • Ring (phone)
  • Ding-dong (doorbell)
  • Honk (horn)
  • Vroom (engine)
  • Knock-knock (door)
  • Click (button)
  • Crack (something breaking)
  • Ding (notification)
  • Beep (device)
  • Zap (electric)
  • Bang (explosion)

Nature sounds

  • Rumble (thunder)
  • Whoosh (wind)
  • Drip (drop)
  • Splash (water)
  • Sizzle (hot pan)
  • Crunch (dry leaves)
  • Patter (rain)
  • Gurgle (stream)
  • Crackle (fire)
  • Howl (strong wind)

People sounds

  • Achoo (sneeze)
  • Chomp (bite)
  • Gulp (swallow)
  • Mwah (kiss)
  • Haha (laugh)
  • Waah (cry)
  • Zzz (sleep)
  • Shh (quiet)
  • Ba-dum (heartbeat)
  • Cough (cough)
  • Hmm (thinking)
  • Ahh (yawn)
  • Slurp (drink)
  • Snore (snore)
  • Smack (slap)
  • Thud (falling down)

Onomatopoeia in games

Games love onomatopoeia: lots of names and sound effects come from it. At Polar Games, the name Plop! Fruit Merge sounds just like fruit dropping into a blender.

A merge creating a mango in Plop! Fruit Merge, with a mission complete banner at the top of the screen

PolarzinhoEvery time a fruit drops in Plop!, I say "plop" out loud. Nobody asked me to.

Plop! Fruit Merge: two matching fruits become a bigger one.

And Beep Out! has the "beep" of a car horn in its name: the goal is to clear a toy-car traffic jam.

Level 2, After You: the yellow car is hovered and a strip of chevrons shows its road, blocked by a red car pointing up

PolarzinhoBeep beep! Excuse me, panda coming through.

Beep Out!: the chevrons show each car's road.

FAQ

What is onomatopoeia?

A word that imitates a sound, like tick-tock, woof and achoo.

What is the difference between onomatopoeia and an interjection?

Onomatopoeia imitates a sound. An interjection expresses a feeling, like "wow!" or "ouch!".

Is onomatopoeia different in other languages?

Yes. A rooster says "cock-a-doodle-doo" in English, "cocoricó" in Portuguese and "quiquiriquí" in Spanish.

Your turn

Write a three-sentence story with five onomatopoeia words. Then read it out loud with sound effects.

Play Plop! Fruit Merge Play Beep Out! Play Ricopop