English Vowel Sounds

A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art
[a:rt], any ['eni].
 
The same vowel sound is often represented by different vowel letters in writing: [ei]
they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.
 

Open and closed syllables

Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].

Closed syllable: cat [kæt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound [ə]).
 

Vowels and vowel combinations

The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R, W

represent different vowel sounds. The chart below lists the vowel sounds according to
the American variant of pronunciation.
 

Sounds Letters Examples Notes

been [i];
e, ee be, eve, see, meet, sleep,
bread, deaf [e];
[i:] ea meal, read, leave, sea, team,
great, break [ei];
ie, ei field, believe, receive
friend [e]
i it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, machine, ski,
[i]
y system, busy, pity, sunny liter, pizza [i:]
e let, tell, press, send, end, meter [i:]
[e]
ea bread, dead, weather, leather sea, mean [i:]
a late, make, race, able, stable,
 
ai, ay aim, wait, play, say, day,
[ei] said, says [e];
ei, ey eight, weight, they, hey,
height, eye [ai]
ea break, great, steak
 cat, apple, land, travel, mad;
[æ] a  
AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half
army, car, party, garden, park, war, warm [o:]
ar
[a:] father, calm, palm, drama;  
a
BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half  
i, ie ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die,
[ai]  
y, uy my, style, apply, buy, guy
ou out, about, house, mouse, group, soup [u:]
[au]
ow now, brown, cow, owl, powder know, own [ou]
[o] o not, rock, model, bottle, copy  
or more, order, cord, port,
work, word [ər]
o long, gone, cost, coffee,
 
[o:] aw, au law, saw, pause, because,
 
ought bought, thought, caught,
 
al, wa- hall, always, water, war, want
[oi] oi, oy oil, voice, noise, boy, toy  
o go, note, open, old, most, do, move [u:]
[ou]
oa, ow road, boat, low, own, bowl how, owl [au]
u use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune,
ew few, dew, mew, new,
[yu:]  
eu euphemism, feud, neutral,
ue, ui hue, cue, due, sue, suit
u rude, Lucy, June,
o, oo do, move, room, tool,  
ew crew, chew, flew, jewel,  
[u:]
ue, ui blue, true, fruit, juice, guide, quite [ai];
ou group, through, route; build [i]
  AmE: duty, new, sue, student
oo look, book, foot, good,
[u] u put, push, pull, full, sugar,  
ou would, could, should
neutral sound u, o gun, cut, son, money, love,  
[ə] ou tough, enough, rough,
 a, e about, brutal, taken, violent,
o, i memory, reason, family
er, ur,
serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir,
ir  
[ər] work, word, doctor, dollar,
or, ar heart, hearth [a:]
heard, earn, earnest, earth
ear
 
Note 1: The letter Y
The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel
sounds [i], [ai]. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel
sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.
 
Note 2: Diphthongs
A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound that consists of two parts. The first part is the
main strong component (the nucleus); the second part is short and weak (the glide). A
diphthong is always stressed on its first component: [au], [ou]. A diphthong forms one
syllable. American linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].

Note 3: The sound [o]

The sound [o] is short in British English. In the same words in American English, the
sound [o] is a long sound colored as [a:]. This sound is often listed as [a:] in American
materials for ESL students. In some words, there are two variants of pronunciation in
AmE: [o:] or [o].
[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern, popular,
respond, John, Tom;
[o:] or [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash, water.
Note 4: The neutral sound
Transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables (fun,
son) and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson). In American ESL materials,
the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed
syllables.
Phonics
When you read, the sounds are represented by 26 letters of the alphabet. Associating
sounds with letters of the alphabet is called phonics.

Letter Sounds
Each of the 26 alphabet letters represents one or more sounds. A letter's name can also
be one of its sounds. For example, the letter A can sound like aaa, ah, or ae.

Two Letter Types

There are two types of letters in the alphabet: consonants andvowels. The basic
difference is how the sound is produced through the mouth.

Consonants
When sounding consonants, air flow is interrupted or limited by the position of the
tongue, teeth or lips.

The majority of letters in the alphabet are consonant letters. Most consonant letters
have only one sound and rarely sound like their name. Click on the following consonant
letters to hear examples of their sounds.

Vowels
When sounding vowels, your breath flows freely through the mouth.

Five of the 26 alphabet letters are vowels: A, E, I, O, and U. The letter Yis sometimes
considered a sixth vowel because it can sound like other vowels.

Unlike consonants, each of the vowel letters has more than one type of sound or can
even be silent with no sound at all.

Long and Short Vowels

When a vowel sounds like its name, this is called a long sound. A vowel letter can also
have shortsounds. Whether a vowel has a long sound, a short sound, or remains silent,
depends on its position in a word and the letters around it. Click on the following vowel
letters to hear their long and short sounds.

Vowel Y
The letter Y is sometimes considered a vowel because it can sound like the vowel
letters A, E, or Idepending on the letters around it or whether the letter Y is at the middle
or end of a word. Click on the following links to hear the different sounds for the letter Y.

Middle Y symbols Ending Y cry

More Vowel Rules
Example

One vowel
not at the end of a word net

One vowel
at the end of a word go

Two vowels in a word

ending with the vowel 'E gate

Two different vowels

together in a word rain
One vowel followed
by two same consonants pull

Double same vowels peek

Double 'O' vowel book`