Vowels, short, long, silent, exceptions for reading lessons

Vowels: A simple guide on sounds, long, short, silent, digraphs, trigraphs

Study Zone Institute May 9, 2023 English Tips

Vowels in the English alphabet are a e i o u and sometimes y. Each of these letters represents two sounds, long and short, and have been the basis for learning to read for a long time despite the complexities of the written English language.

As reading methods evolve, phonics emphasised the relationship between letters and their sounds, empowering children to decode words by breaking them down into their component sounds. They learn that the sounds of vowels can be represented by one, two, three and even four letters. Examples:

ai in wait and said
air in hair
ea in meat and head
ear in bear
ei in receive and vein
eigh in weigh and height
ie in pie, ancient and movie
i-e in nice
oa in boat
ough in dough and through
oo in book, food and flood
ui in fruit and guide
ou in mouse and soup

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A simple breakdown of vowel sounds

Here is a simple way to look at vowels. They have long and short sounds.

Long and short vowels

Long vowels sound like the sound of the letter – ate, eat, ice, oat and cute.

Short vowels sound different from the sound of the letter – ant, egg, ink, odd and up.

Yy is a vowel when it sounds like long ‘i’ as in cry, long ‘e’ as in many, or short ‘i’ as in myth. It is a consonant when it sounds like ‘yuh’ as in ‘yes’.

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Long vowels may be determined by the presence of silent ones within a syllable.

A syllable is a part of a word that has at least one vowel sound within it e.g. ape has one syllable, apple has two, and applesauce has three. There are 6 types of syllables:

6 types of syllables

open syllable ends in a vowel (she, motel, revise)
closed syllable ends with a consonant (fruit, welcome, compose)
vowel consonant e syllable (wake, compete, dislike)
r-controlled syllable (car, resort, portable)
vowel team syllable (laugh, goat, meaning)
consonant -le syllable (simple, table, cycle)

Some teachers use these syllable types to explain vowels. Teaching vowel teams is another effective method to help students achieve clarity.

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Trace alphabet: Download 27 free worksheets

Two letter words: Download 5 free worksheets for tracing

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At the same time, there are exceptions to common occurrences with vowels. Some of these fell under the list of sight words and high frequency words in English that students had to learn. Now, students learn them under vowel team groups:

Long vowels – rule and exceptions

A long vowel is sounded when there is a silent vowel after it. e.g. aim, eel, lie, oat and juice.

EXCEPTIONS

Silent ‘e’ is at the end of the syllable

make, compete, bite, note, mute

‘y’ is at the end of the syllable

day, may, pay, stay, clay

Vowels are long with no silent vowels around

‘e’ – me, she, we, he, be, (pretty in some countries)

‘i’ – light, fight, high, thigh, plight

‘o’ – no, cold, bold, sold, throw

‘ei’ sounds like long ‘a’, long ‘e’, long ‘i’, short ‘e’

‘ei’ sounds like long ‘a’ – weight, neighbour, vein, freight, foreign

long ‘e’ – seize, either, neither

long ‘i’ – height, heist, feisty

short ‘e’ – weird, their, leisure

Vowels change to long ‘u’ and long ‘e’

‘e’ – chew, few, stew, threw

‘o’ – do, to, who, through

‘oo’ – proof, fool, racoon, moon, toot

‘i’ – fiesta, fiend, field, pizza

Short vowels – rule and exceptions

A short vowel has no vowel after it in the same syllable. e.g. art, bet, sick, rot, gut

EXCEPTIONS

Vowels are short even with a ‘u’ is next to it

‘a’ – caught, taught, naught, haughty

‘o’ – tough, thought, bought, brought

Vowels are short even with a silent ‘e’ at the end of the syllable

‘o’ – done, gone

‘u’ – judge, fudge

Vowels change in sound

‘ie’ sounds like short ‘e’ – friend

‘e’ sounds like short ‘i’ – (pretty in some countries)

These exceptions can be learned in order to master learning words in English. It makes understanding the spelling rules on blending letters and adding affixes much easier.

Today, students learn word lists on vowel teams and how single sounds are represented by two or more letters.