English Vowel Sounds
English Vowel Sounds
Sound
/i/
leak
.
keen
peat
beet
be
/I/
lick
lit
kin
pit
bit
.
/ey/
lake
late
cane
.
bait
ba
/e/
,
let
Ken
pet
bet
.
“ae”
lack
.
can
pat
bet
ba
“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
/ey/
E
/i/
I
/ai/
O
/o/ or /ou/
U
/u/ or /yu/
a
“ae”
e
/e/
i
/I/
o
“ah”
u
“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
give
sign
gone
find
(sound is “short” despite silent second vowel)
read
live
lead
(sound is “long” despite no silent second vowel)
(two pronunciations: long or short)
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