A helpful list of sounds in English & some of the letters that make them: The usual letters that Exceptions- words with other make this sound: letters that make this sound: VOWEL and VOWEL BLEND SOUNDS a (short sound) apple *have, *halve pat, crash Iplaid catch, sarcasm half, gallon badge dance, chance bank, rang a (long sound) change, range ace, *ate they, obey, /*prey,convey *pale, “pail great, break, steak “way, gray, “pray, say “eight, “weigh, neighbor, *straight, *strait Wein, freight, veil, sleigh gauge reign, reindeer educate Iouffet, fillet, Chevrolet, crochet, bouquet, beret resume/blase! fiancee’, naivete’ Imatinee, suede lingerie ah (close to - short sound) afraid, ago father, want, wash, watch, aha! ha, papa garage, /wand, swan, swap, spa, algebra calm, swamp, watt, phobia, sofa balmy, suave, facade Moourgeois (bur-zhwa) rendezvous S , ‘ 5 ‘watch these spellings, sounds! aw (same as au) all, wall, also talk, walk How this sound is made: (Click on drawing to hear) % jaw: quite open; ips sightly apart tongue: quite low, relaxed, slightly pushed forward jaw, slight tongue: starts out the same as short e, quite low, but tenses and moves up to long e tongue: lips: slightly rounded VOWELS 1.aw (same as au) all, wall, also paw, yawn awful, awe caught, haul, applaud August e (short sound) egg, happiness pet, technique wedding edge, fence defense *red, *led e (long sound) eagle peel either, receive money, key me “lead, *read people freed ‘watch thes speling, sounds! i (short sound) ink talk, walk, chalk, etc. broad cough, thought, fought, bought, brought Off, soft, log, cost, cloth Utah salt, false, Arkansas (Arkansaw) a Jaw: open; tongue: very tow, lax, rises slightly in back lips: slightly rounded bread, breakfast, dead, deaf, weather, head, health, instead, *lead, *read, sweater, threat, meant, feather ‘sweat, weapon, etc. friend guess, guest said (sed) says (sez) Igazelle, mademoiselle jaw: slightly open lips: unrounded tongue: quite low, relaxed belief, believe, diesel, field, yield, niece, piece, brief, Ishield, thief, grief, chief, siege, prairie, achieve, etc. police automobile poorly, happily, etc. any, pretty, etc. gasoline, machine, magazine, vaccine, marine, nicotine Imacaroni, ski, pita, chic Jantique, technique, unique Isuite ICaesar SS. “lL Home a lips: unrounded yl, and moves: highor VOWELS 2.i (short sound) “live i English, pretty been (AmE) women mist, filth marriage width busy, business journalism build, guilt > bridge, wince foreign /counterteit, forfeit 1 sw wilderness Jsigve, handkerchief syrup, /myth, synonym, lynx Unaccented endings with ice: office, practice, ete. “ “ile: fragile, missile, etc. jaw: slightly open “ “ine: engine, medicine, etc. lips: unrounded _ 7 “ite: opposite, favorite, etc. tongue: mid level, does not “ “ “ive: positive,negative, etc. move, is haif-tense i (long sound; really a double sound: ah-ee) ice, nice aisle “pie height, /stein mile, reptile child, mild, wild, etc. advice (ad-VICE) light, right, night, etc. fine, valentine blind, find, kind, grind drive, arrive, sign, /benign, design , excite *high, sigh, thigh island (silent s) “1 *hi, pi Icoyote guide, /disguise 5 buy my, try, fly, “eye, rye, /dye —_—_sdtha suoes from back to he *Ibyte, rhyme, electrolyte Jaw and tongue: move up, start lax, Become tonse lips: from open to “smiling” © (short sound - similar to ah) October, on, upon gone pot, doll, cloth honest, honor (silent h) 6 clack, c response | /mosque = Gl bomb check sound, spelling! VOWELS 3. © (long sound) ‘open, awe old, > st, both, soot,© (long sound) open, owe Qld, cold, hold, most, both, /bolt, coat, “pole, “poll, post, folk, yolk toe, “so doughnut, though, /boulder no, ago, radio comb “clothes, “close *sew chose, chosen pillow, yellow, low, bowl, own, dose, dosage throw, know, *row, (mower *sow, “bow thorougl foureau, plateau /chauvinist sdepot Jsoul /yeoman ou (really two sounds: ah-o0) ‘out, “flour, house, count, ounce, “our, bough, drought cow, “flower,*bow, *row “hour (silent h) how, brown, owl flounge *sow S-b ou 0/ (really two sounds: oh-ee) boy lawyer gil, coin noise, choice linois (silent s) ‘watch these spellings, sounds! 00 (really between a short 0 a Ween jaw: slightly open lips: rounded, move closer together tongue: tense, glides up and back JAW: very open, closes sugntly lips: open, then rounded tongue: relaxed, very low and flat in front, then moves up in back ‘s0und moves waem wo HONK jaw: slightly open, moves up lips: from rounded to unrounded tongue: tense,glides up, forward VOWELS 4.00 (really between a short o and short u) u (short sound) up, but butter, luck *sum,medium dumb (silent b) fudge, plunge dunce, pulse woman, wolf look, cook, good, 1root, wool, wood, brook could, would, should put was, what does (duz) country, couple, cousin, trouble, young, rough come, love, done, cover, *some, oven, tongue, front, brother, mother, Ikingdom, sponge, etc. flood, blood 0 <> ° v Compare wit w+ ven Jawcopen lips: rounded, do not move tongue: curves high in back ith v 3 Jaws: half open; sound is ow:"uh" tongue: curved up in the center lips: relaxed, not rounded, ALL UNSTRESSED VOWELS TAKE THIS SOUND, as in banana (buh-NA-nuh). In dictionaries, the symbol for this sound is an upside-down e: watch these spellings, sounds! u (long sound, with y sound a used, uniform abbreviation silent minimum connect cucumber captain ocean fashion, nation famous M_cDonald’s a by a Vowels 5.u (long sound, with y sound at the beginning) used, uniform beauty university, usual computer, butte, Jukelele, fugue few, pew fuel, cute feud, eulogy abuse, mute, excuse view “you, youth coupon S + > (also see y sound) lips: go from unrounded to rounded; tongue: flat in front, moves ‘up in back, tenses. ‘Sound is held tong n,r,s,t,w and z) (long sound, with no y sound; usually after these consonants: *blue,avenue, neutral, pneumonia, /deuce, June, tune neurotic, neutron suit, “flu, juice “blew, “flew, new, ‘crews, “threw, /dew, “ewe, Meruise, *sue, emu drew, stew, brew, Jew, chew, etc. truth, produce “two institute shoe, do “to, move who, whose “too, boot, soon, food, room, tool, tooth, loose, choose, Iealloon, smooth, snooze, etc. ay group, routine, /route rouge, souvenir *through tomb, womb Jaw open ips: quit rounded FSioux tongue lat in rot, moves up in Idebut back, tenses. Sound held ong *Check out these spellings and sounds, Have you been able to match each starred word to one or two others on the same page that are either spelled the same but sound differently or that are spelled differently but sound the same? f course, hundreds of words in English are simply one word with different meanings. 7 VOWELS 6.