Long And Short English Vowels

The English vowels are A, E, I, O, & U. (Sometimes Y is a vowel, pronounced as if it were I, and sometimes W substitutes
for U, especially in the digraph 'ow.') Each vowel can be pronounced in several ways.This page explains when each
sound is commonly used.
Short Vowels
Short vowel images: A (as in) apple, E- elephant, I- insect, O- octopus, U- umbrella
The most common sound for each vowel is its “short” sound:
ă, pronounced /æ/ as in apple, pan, or mat,
ĕ, pronounced /ɛ/ as in elephant, pen, or met,
ĭ, pronounced /ɪ/ as in insect, pin, or mitt,
ŏ, pronounced /ɒ/ as in octopus, ostrich, upon, or motto,
and ŭ, pronounced /ʌ/ as in umbrella, pun, or mutt.
When syllables end in a vowel and then consonant (as in the examples above), the vowel is usually short. If there is more
than one consonant, the vowel is almost always short.
This becomes important as a way to keep the same vowel sound when adding -ed to put a verb into the past tense. We
often double an ending consonant to keep a short vowel short. For example, the past tense of 'stop' is 'stopped.'
Otherwise the silent 'e' rule below (which applies when followed by 'd') would give it a long 'o' sound like soap or hope.
Long Vowels
'Ullyses the old ape usually eats oats, but he really likes ice cream in the evenings.'
The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are called “long vowels.”
We call them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the short sounds.
However, they are completely different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound.
Long A (ā), pronounced /eɪ/ as in ate or mate,
Long E (ē), pronounced /iː/ as in eat or meat (or meet or mete-- all pronounced the same),
Long I (ī), pronounced /aɪ/ as in mite or might,
Long O (ō), pronounced /oʊ/ as in oats, mote or moat, and
Long U (ū), pronounced /juː/ in mute.
Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always silent, but it causes the
preceding vowel to be long. (Examples: ate, plane, Pete, bite, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.)
Other Long Vowels: A vowel at the end of a syllable is almost always long. Examples: I, we, he, she, go, try, potato and
tomato. (Some English speakers use a short ‘a’ in the 2nd syllable, while others use a long ‘a,’ but both ‘o’s are long for
everyone.)
-Igh and -ight are usually long I (and silent GH): bright, fight, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, tight.
Often the first letter of the vowel combinations, especially ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ea’ (sometimes-- see Digraphs, below), ‘ee’, & ‘oa,’
will be long & the second will be silent. (An old rhyme for children says “when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the
talking.”) So ’plain’ sounds just like ‘plane,' ‘meat’ and ‘meet’ like ‘mete,’ etc.
Common Examples: Short and Long Vowels
These contrasts demonstrate the rules (in each column, first short, then long):
A: short A: long A: short A: long hid hide shin shine
back bake can cane slid slide bit bite
snack snake plan plain/plane dim dime lit light/lite
fad fade tap tape Tim time sit sight/site
mad made/maid at ate O: short O: long O: short O: long
Sam same cat Kate rob robe cot coat
E: short E: long E: short E: long hop hope not note
bed bead bet beat/beet mop mope rot rote/wrote
Ben bean met mete/meat/meet U: short U: long U: short U: long
men mean pet Pete cub cube cut cute
ten teen set seat tub tube flutter flute
I: short I: long I: short I: long hug huge mutter mute
lick like fin fine
Other English Vowel Sounds (Schwa or R-Controlled)
Besides the long and short sounds, there are other sounds English vowels can make.
Any vowel in an unaccented syllable has a neutral or “schwa” /ə/ sound: Examples: the ‘a’ in above, or approve, the ‘e’
in accident, camera or mathematics, the ‘i’ in family or officer, the ‘o’ in freedom or purpose, or the ‘u’ in industry or
succeed.
Two vowels written together (digraphs) can be a dipthong, combining the two sounds, (like the oi/oy in boy, point, or
ointment) or they can be pronounced in various other ways, depending on the combination. See Vowel Digraphs for a
full explanation.
if a vowel is followed by R, it changes in quality, and is neither long nor short. (ER, IR, and UR are often -- though not
always--the same sound.)
Examples with phonetic symbols:
/ɑr/ -- arm, car, charge, dark, farm, start
/ɛər/-- air, aware, bare/bear, hair, spare, tear (pull apart paper or fabric), there, very, where
/ɪər/-- beer, ear, hear/here, near, tear (from crying)
/ɜr/ -- bird, burn, first, fur, herd, earth, service, sir, third, thirty, turn, urgent, worse
/ər/ -- baker, better, bigger, doctor, letter, smaller, summer
/ɔr/ -- for, important, more, north, or
Exceptions, Dialects, & Help
Quite a few common words spelled with ‘O’ are pronounced with a short ‘U’ sound: of, love, money, other, some, son.
(That means some and sum are homophones: they are pronounced the same. So are son and sun.)
Different English dialects pronounce certain vowels differently than the general rules given above. For example, in
California and much of the U.S., the ‘a’ in ‘father’ or ‘want’ is pronounced very much like the ‘au’ in ‘audio’ or the short
‘o’ in ‘pot’ or ‘hot.’ That’s not true for all English speakers, however.
Another example: the /ɜr/ in bird, burn, earth, etc. is generally pronounced /ər/ in the U.S. and some other areas.
Most importantly, it also teaches a way I just learned to remember the different vowel sounds using colors.* It identifies
each sound with a color and image that use the same sound: 'black hat' for short A and 'white light' for long I. These are
easier for most of us than learning the International Phoenetic Alphabet.

How To Pronounce & Spell Vowel Digraphs

Vowel digraphs are vowels written with two letters. Some
are a single sound. Others, like ‘au’ or ‘oi,’ are
'diphthongs', in which the combination contains the basic
sounds of both vowels, but they glide together.) Here are
some suggestions for sounding them out in unfamiliar
words.
(Note: These are standard American pronunciations.
British, Australian, and other Commonwealth countries--
and some regions of the U.S.-- will be different for a few
of them.)
 Vowel Digraphs Beginning with ‘A’
AI or AY are almost always pronounced as long A -- /eɪ/ in
the International Phonetic Alphabet -- (except if followed
by R-- see below the Es): bait, bay, brain, daily, fail, laid,
maid, may, paid, pay, praise, raise, say (but NOT said-- it
rhymes with red), wait, way.
AU or AW are usually pronounced /ɔː/: audio, auditorium,
auto, autumn, awful, cause, caught, daughter, raw, saw,
taught.
(One common exception is 'because.' At least in my
California dialect, we pronounce it with a simple short 'u'
sound (like umbrella, country, or cousin): be-cuz.)
 Vowel Digraphs Beginning with ‘E’
EA is often pronounced /iː/ like long E (as in the long
vowel rule on the English Vowels page): bean, cheat,
dream, each, heal, lead (the verb), leave, mean, reach,
real, speak, team, treat.
However, EA is also commonly pronounced like a short E
(/ɛ/): already, bread, breakfast, dead, head, instead, lead
(grey substance used in plumbing), measure, ready,
spread, weather.
There is no certain way to predict which pronunciation a
word will use.
EE is pronounced with a long E (/iː/): bee, deep, feed, feel,
free, need, see, seed, steep, tree.
EI is usually pronounced with a long A (/eɪ/): eight,
neighbor, weigh, OR with a long E (/iː/ ) after C: deceive,
receive.
EU and EW are usually long U (/juː/):eulogy, few or /u:/
grew, new, stew
 AIR, EAR, EER, EIR, and EUR
As pointed out on the English Vowels page with link
above, vowels and vowel digraphs followed by 'R' change
their sounds. AIR, EAR, EER, and EIR can be pronounced
three ways:
/ɛər/-- air/heir (same pronunciation), bare/bear, fair, hair,
pair/pear, stair/stare, their
/ɪər/-- beer, career, ear, hear/here, near, stear/steer,
weary, weird, year
/ɜr/-- early, earn, earth, heard, learn, neuron
 Vowel Digraphs Beginning with ‘I’
IE is usually pronounced with a long E sound (/iː/):
achieve, belief, believe, grieve, piece, relieve. (See EI.)
An old spelling rhyme goes: “I before E except after C, or
when pronounced A as in neighbor and weigh.”)
 Vowel Combinations Beginning with ‘O’
OA is pronounced with a long O (/oʊ/): boast, boat, coat,
goal, soap, throat.
OI and OY make the /ɔɪ/ sound: boil, boy, point, soil, toy.
OO is pronounced /uː/ as in: food, room, school, soon,
too, tool, zoo or /ʊ/ as in book, good, look, stood, took,
understood.
Can you pronounce these words with OU? Words with
each of 8 English pronunciations of the vowel digraph
9 Consonant Digraphs You Need To Know
These letter combinations are very common, but their
pronunciation is nothing like their individual letter sounds.
Look through them, and also notice the most common
words they form.
English spelling can be very strange. Sometimes words
keep part of the spelling of the language they came from.
Often one sound can be written several ways.
Digraphs are letter combinations that make a single
sound.
1. CH makes three sounds in English: most commonly
/tʃ/: chair, child, church, & catch, march, watch.
Consonant digraphs CH, GH, PH, SH, & TH with
illustrations (a chair & church, ghost & laugh, phone &
graph, shower & cash, teeth, etc.) with advice to check the
page for the sounds they make.
10Lưu
It also makes a /k/ sound in words of Greek origin:
character, Christian, chorus, chronological.
Sometimes it has the /ʃ/ (‘sh’) sound in words of French
origin like champagne or machine.
2. GH is pronounced /g/ at the beginning of words like
ghost, and at the end of words is silent (see below) or
makes the /f/ sound: cough, enough, laugh, rough,
tough.(The last two are pronounced 'ruff' & 'tuff.' See also
PH.)
It is silent in bought, caught, daughter, height, high, light,
might, right, sigh, sight, though, and thought (etc.).
'OU,' from house, bought, dough, double, & group to you,
could, & four.
OU may be the most difficult digraph to guess.
Its most common sound is /aʊ/: about, amount, around,
count, doubt, ground, house, mountain, mouth, out,
rebound, sound, south, thousand, without.
However, it can also make the sound of /ɔː/ : bought,
cough, fought, ought, thought (see AU), long O (/oʊ/):
dough, though, thorough (two syllables, meaning
complete), short U (/ʌ/): country, cousin, double, enough,
rough, trouble, young, /uː/: group, through /ju:/ you /ʊ/:
could, should, would. or (followed by an R) /ɔr/: four,
fourth
OW is pronounced /aʊ/: brown, cow, down, how, now,
town, or with a long O (/oʊ/): blow, grow, know, low,
own, show, throw.
 Vowel Digraphs of 'U'
UE is pronounced /uː/: blue, true
UI/UY can be pronounced /uː/: fruit, suit or sometimes
/ɪ/: build or /aɪ/: buy, guy
3. PH makes the sound of /f/: graph, phone,
phonics.(The ending sound is exactly the same in graph,
half, laugh, and staff.)
4. SH makes the /ʃ/ sound: cash, fashion, foolish, rash,
shame, shelter, should, shower, trash, wash.
See also TION below.
5. TH makes 2 related sounds: /θ/ (voiceless): anything,
author, bath, breath, cloth, health, teeth, nothing
or /ð/ (voiced): breathe, brother, clothing, father, mother,
mouth, southern, teethe, than, that, the, their, them,
then, there, these, they, this, those, though, thus,
together, weather.
TION-- Not a true digraph, this common word ending (that
often converts verbs into nouns) sounds like ‘shun:’
combination, inflammation, information, nation,
relationship.
6. WH makes the sound of /hw/: what, when, where,
which, why (or an /h/ sound in who or whole.)
KN, NG, & QU
7. KN makes the sound of /n/: knee, knew ( pronounced
just like 'new'), knife, knight, or know (which sounds
exactly like 'no'.)
8. NG makes the /ŋ/ sound: bang, king, long, lung, ring,
sing.
9. QU makes the sound of /kw/: quality, question, quick,
quiet.
 ESL Phonics Tips
Phonics shows the relationships between the letters and sounds of a language. Standard English has about 42 sounds
(with some differences for different dialects), but only 26 letters. Another problem is that many letters can be
pronounced in two or more ways, and most sounds can be represented by more than one letter.
Note that most consonants have one main sound, with common exceptions noted afterwards.
Vowels A , E, I, O, & U have long, short, and ‘r’-controlled sounds, as well as the ‘schwa’ sound for unaccented syllables.
ESL Phonics: Common Sounds For Each Letter
A Long A: ate, day, plain, plane, say L all, lake, lack, light, lily, listen, love, silent, still.
Short A: at, class, plan, sad M am, make, mine, moment, some.
B bank, bed, boat, bubble, by, double, number, verb N any, man, name, nine, none, turn.
Sometimes ‘b’ is silent, especially after ‘m’ or before ‘t’: For the N sound see also KN in Consonant Digraph Sounds.
comb, debt, doubt, dumb, lamb, numb, thumb. (See also the NG digraph.)
C cab, call, cat, coin, colony, cube, cut, lick, sack O Long O: alone, boat, bone, cold, no, note, open, own,
cent, celery, certain, cipher, fascinate, lice, race. rose.
C has a hard (‘k’)sound before ‘a,’ ‘o,’ & ’u,’ (or when Short O: dog, drop, hot, mop, not, on, stop.
followed by ‘k’), anda soft (‘s’) sound before ‘e’ or ‘i.’ P apple, pay, pen, pie, place, pretty, top, wrap.
For CH see Consonant Digraph Sounds (link just above the (See also PH in Consonant Digraph Sounds.)
alphabet list.) Q (sounds like 'kw'): quantity, queen, quit, quite.
D dad, dead, decided, said, tried (See QU in Consonant Digraph Sounds.)
D makes a ‘t’ sound after certain (unvoiced) consonants: R air, arm, baker, bird, charge, fur, hear, or, ran, red, rose,
baked, hoped, fixed, guessed, washed. service, turn.
E Long E: complete, meaning, peel, sweet, three S backs, glasses, maps, mats, pots, say, sell, sold.
Short E: address, desk, exit, pen, red, seven See also Z (which is the sound S makes after a voiced
Silent E (makes the preceding vowel long): close, cube, consonant like B, D, G, L, or R) and see SH in Consonant
like, name, take. Digraph Sounds.
F face, feel, fluffy, free, puff. T at, met, pot, tall, test, taught.
(For the F sound, see also GH & PH on the Consonant See also TH and TION in Consonant Digraph Sounds.
Digraph Sounds page.) U Long U: cube, tube, mute, use.
G G makes a hard ‘G’ sound before A, O, & U, as well as Short U: cup, tub, under, up, us.
before L & R and at the middle and end of words: drug, (See QU in Consonant Digraph Sounds.)
game, gave, glass, glitter, gold, got, grass, great, rag, V give, leave, love, value, very, visit, voice.
seagull, segment. W want, water, week, wife, will, wood, word.
It usually makes a soft ‘J’ sound before E or I:generous, W is silent in many words beginning WR: wrap, wreck,
genetic (the same beginning sound as Jennifer), ginger, write, wrong.
gist. See WH in Consonant Digraph Sounds. (Also see the AW,
Exceptions include the hard G of get, girl, and give. (See EW, and OW digraphs in English vowels, in which the W
also GH, Consonant Digraph Sounds.) takes the place of U: awful, saw, new, brown, cow, grow,
H hair, half, help, hero, hit, home. show.)
An initial ‘h’ is often silent, (depending on its derivation: X X usually makes the sound /ks/: box, excited, six, toxic.
the language it came from): herb, honest, honor. Y Y makes the International Phonetic Alphabet /j/ sound:
See also CH, GH, PH, SH, TH, and WH in Consonant year, yellow, yes, yet, you, young.
Digraph Sounds. It can also serve as a vowel, taking the place of I, either as
I Long I: five, nine, right, write. /ɪ/: mystery,
Short I: in, pill, sick, six. or /aɪ/ : cry, dry, fly, my, sky, try, type, or why,
J J is usually pronounced /dʒ/ in English: jam, John, juice. or /iː/, especially at the end of multi-syllable words: any,
For more J sounds see G. carry, city, easy, lonely, sorry, study or very,
K back, bake, keep, kind, kiss, make, rack, truck. It is also part of the AY and OY vowel digraphs in play, say,
At the beginning of words, we usually use K before E or I, way,
and we use C for the /k/ sound before A, O, or U. boy and destroy.
At the end of words the K sound is often written CK (to Z buzz, fuzzy, zero, zoo.
keep the preceding vowel clearly ‘short.’) (Many times S, especially in plurals, makes the /z/ sound:
For KN see Consonant Digraph Sounds. boys, news, noise.)