Skills

Levels

English Vowel Sounds

Sound







/i/

leak


keen

peat

beet

bee

/I/

lick

lit

kin

pit

bit


/ey/

lake

late

cane


bait

bay

/e/


let

Ken

pet

bet


"ae"

lack


can

pat

bet

baa

"ah"

lock


con

pot

bought

bah

"uh"

luck



putt

but


"oo"

look



put



/u/

Luke

lute

coon


boot

boo

"er"

lurk


Kern

pert

Bert

burr

/o/



cone


boat

Bo, bow

/ai/

like


kine


bite

by

/au/


lout


pout

bout

bough

/oi/



coin



boy

Some Generalizations (Not Rules) about English vowels and spelling

English vowels have "long" and "short" forms.

The long form is the "name" of the letter: The short form is as follows:

A

E

I

O

U

/ey/

/i/

/ai/

/o/ or /ou/

/u/ or /yu/

a

e

i

o

u

"ae"

/e/

/I/

"ah"

"uh"

Long vowels are usually (but not always) indicated by a second (silent) vowel in the same syllable:

sheep

bait

heat

loaf

like

mice

tune

peace

juice

hoe

leave

jay

slow

pony

(Sometimes "y" and "w" can function as a second vowel.)

Short vowels usually stand alone within a syllable and are often followed by "double" consonants:

ran

jet

cup

doll

kiss

tick

lamb

witch

fast

hint

punch

Note the difference:

hope

hop

hoped

hopped

hoping

hopping

    tiny/tinny

Notable exceptions:

head

light

read

give

sign

live

gone

find

lead

(sound is "short" despite silent second vowel)

(sound is "long" despite no silent second vowel)

(two pronunciations: long or short)

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Last updated: 15 February, 2010 02:43:16