List of long and short vowels

Phonics Word Lists - Cheat Sheets for Short & Long Vowels

One of my favorite ways to help kids become better readers and spellers is to help them see that words are related, often by spelling pattern. And that’s exactly what these free phonics word lists help kids do. They are a great tool for spelling and reading!

These short and long vowel word lists are a freebie from Printable Spelling Activities & Games and are great for younger learners as well as struggling readers. I’ve included four different fonts {one font in cursive} so that they can fit multiple ages.

*The free download can be found at the END of this post.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Phonics Word Lists and How to Use Them

I created these phonics cheat sheets specifically for playing spelling games with my first grader. Some spelling games we like to integrate include Scrabble Jr., Scrabble Boggle, & Bananagrams.

But it became apparent pretty early on that even though he has above average reading skills, his spelling skills were lagging {normal part of development}. To make up for this, I have made the games less competitive so he doesn’t get so frustrated.

This school year, as I pulled out our games again, I felt he was ready for a little more independence with using spelling strategies, so I created these phonics word lists {cheat sheets} for him to use when we play.

With a little teaching and modeling on how to use the word lists, his frustration level has been lowered and he has more confidence in playing the word games. He knows that with each word on the list, he can change out the red letter{s} and put another letter {or letters} at the front to spell a new word.

The words on the lists contain the most common word family chunks {and some extras as well}. The short vowel sheet* features 80 common word patterns and the long vowel sheet features 105 common word patterns. There is great power in the words because when the first letter {onset} is changed, thousands of words can be spelled!

*Note: The short vowel page has some extra patterns included that aren’t entirely short vowels, like car, ball, and her, just to name a few.

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More Phonics Resources:

Single Syllable Phonics Cheat Sheet
Teaching Kids to Read is NOT Enough
Low Prep Phonics Games {over 300 included!}
Find the Oddball Game
Mix n’ Match Spelling
CVC Word Lists {The Measured Mom}

: Short Vowel Word Study

Literacy Apps for Kids {Interactive apps that reinforce phonics skills}

Enjoy!

~Becky

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Long Vowel Sounds: Word Lists & Activities

Phonics | Spelling

ByDelilah Orpi

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please read the disclosure policy for more details.

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In this post, I’m breaking down long vowel sounds (or long vowel words) to help you teach them when working with struggling readers and spellers.

Looking for long vowel word lists? Download all 5 of my pdf long vowel sounds word lists in my freebies library by joining my email list below.

What is a long vowel sound?

Long vowel sounds are vowels that are pronounced the same as their name. You’ll often hear teachers say that long vowels “say their name”.

Long vowels are very common but they can be tricky because there are so many spellings for each long vowel sound.

There are actually 4 ways to make long vowel sounds:

Vowels at the end of a syllable make the long sound. For example, in the words me and halo (ha-lo) the vowels are all at the end of a syllable so they make the long sound.
Silent e makes the previous vowel long. The words bike and phone have a silent e at the end that makes the previous vowel long.
Vowel teams can make the long sound. Vowel teams work together to make one sound, and usually, it’s a long vowel sound. For example, boat and meat both have vowel teams that make the long sound.
I or O can be long when they come before two consonants. In words like cold and mind, i and o make a long vowel sound.

Long Vowel Words

Long vowel sound words are words that have vowels that say their name. Below are a few examples:

Long a – baby, cake, rain, day, they, weigh
Long e – me, eve, hear, meet, piece, candy
Long i – silent, bike, light, my
Long o – go, home, toe, boat, snow
Long u – music, mule, pew, feud

Long A Sound

The long a sound can be represented by 8 different spelling patterns:

a – baby
a_e – cake
ai – rain
ay – play
ei – reindeer
eigh – weight
ea – steak
ey – they

Learn more about teaching the long a sound here, and check out my Long A Words Activities & Worksheets for printable activities.

Long E Sound

The long e sound can be represented by 8 different spelling patterns:

e – be
e_e – eve
ee – meet
ea – beach
ei – protein
ie – piece
ey – key
y – candy

For ideas, tips, and tricks when teaching the long e sound, read this post all about teaching the long e vowel sound, and check out my Long E Words Activities & Worksheets for printable activities.

Long I Sound

The long i sound can be represented by 6 different spelling patterns:

i – silent
i_e – shine
ie – pie
igh – light
y – my
y_e – type

You can learn more about teaching the long I sound in this post. And check out my Long I Worksheets set in my shop for printable activities on the long i sound.

Long O Sound

The long o sound can be represented by 5 different spelling patterns:

o – go
o_e – phone
oe – toe
oa – boat
ow – snow

You can learn more about teaching long o words and check out my long o worksheets.

Long U Sound

The long u has two sounds: yoo (/y/ /oo/) and oo (/oo/).

The long u sound can be represented by 7 different spelling patterns:

u – music
u_e – mule
ue – rescue
eu – feud
ew – few
oo – food
ou – soup

Learn more about teaching the long u sound here.

Tips for teaching the long vowel sounds

Teach one spelling pattern at a time!

I don’t mean one vowel sound, but just one spelling pattern. So for example, if you’re working on long a, you would work on the spelling pattern a silent e (cake, same, cave) until students have mastered it, then move on to ai, and so on. You should not be teaching multiple spelling patterns together, even though they make the same sound.

I know that most programs out there combine all the long vowel sound spelling patterns into one lesson, especially in spelling lists, but this does not work for struggling readers. You need to break it down for them and only do one at a time.

Teach the syllable types.

Because syllables have a lot to do with whether vowels make the short or long sound, if students do not already know the 6 syllable types then teach them along with the long vowel sound.

Here are resources for each syllable type:

closed syllable
open syllable
final silent e syllable
vowel team syllable
r combination syllable
consonant le syllable

Use a variety of activities to practice each spelling pattern.

Games, dictation, word sorts, memory or matching with flashcards, word hunts, textured writing, body spelling, and bingo are all fun ways to practice the long vowel sounds.

The main activity that is often overlooked is dictation. It seems so simple but the task involves listening to a word, deciding on the spelling, and transferring that info to written form. These are all skills that struggling readers need to practice.

Teach the spelling generalizations.

Some of the long vowel spelling patterns are spelling rules that make it easy to remember.

For example, ai is usually found at the beginning or middle of a syllable, and ay is usually found at the end of a syllable. [Examples: rain, aim, play, daytime]

Here is another example with long o: oa is usually found at the beginning or middle of a word, and ow is usually found at the end. [Examples: boat, coach, snow]

Long Vowel Word List

I made these word lists to help teach the long vowels. I find it handy to have these on hand when playing phonics games or planning activities for long vowel lessons.

Grab them for free below!

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop to see all my literacy products.

Want to remember this? Save Long Vowel Sounds: Word Lists & Activities to your favorite Pinterest board!

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Delilah Orpi

Delilah Orpi is the founder of Thrive Literacy Corner. She has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, a Master's degree in TESOL, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association. She is an experienced educator and literacy specialist trained in Orton Gillingham and Lindamood Bell. Delilah creates literacy resources for educators and parents and writes to create awareness about dyslexia and effective literacy instruction based on the science of reading.

Short vowels | German self-instruction manual for beginners. Learn German from scratch

German vowels are divided into short and long vowels.

A vowel is short:

If it is followed by two or more consonants. This position is called a closed syllable.
- satt [zat] - full
- Liste ['lɪstə] - list
- Antwort ['antwɔrt] - reply
In diphthongs.
- mein [ma͜en] - my
- Haus [ha͜os] - house
Usually before ch when this combination means [x] - i.e. after a, o, u .
1. ach [ax] - ach
2. Loch [lɔx] - hole, hole
3. Bucht [bʋxt] - bay
However, in some words, the vowel before ch can be long:
1. Buch [bu:x] - book
2. Kuchen ['ku:xən] - cake, pie
3. Tuch [tu:x] - scarf, fabric
There are exceptions to the rules for reading vowels (by longitude-shortness; see below).

Let's turn to individual vowels.

[a] - short; something like Russian "a"

wann [van] - when
dann [dan] - then
Fall [fal] - case
Pass [pas] - Passport
Schach [ʃax] - chess
knapp [knap] - narrow; bleed

[ɔ] - short, open, something between "o" and "a"

Bonn [bɔn] - Bonn
Sonne ['sɔnə] - sun
voll [fɔl] - full
Block [blɔk] - block
Wolle ['vɔlə] - wool
komm [kɔm] - come

[ε] - short, open, similar to "e" in the word "sir"

es [εs] - it is (pronoun 3rd l singular cf.)
nett [nεt] - dear, kind
wenn [vεn] - if, when
hängen ['hεŋən] - hang
kämpfen ['kεmpfən] - fight
Lärm [lεrm] - noise

[i] - short, in Russian, something between "i" / "y"

Tisch [tɪʃ] - table
Sinn [zɪn] - mind, feeling
ist [ɪst] - 3rd l. unit verb " be "
bist [bɪst] - 2nd l. unit verb " be "
sind [zɪnt] - 3rd l. plural verb " be "
wissen ['vɪsən] - know

[ʋ] - short "y" (lips almost do not stretch forward)

und [ʋnt] - and
Mund [mʋnt] - mouth
um [ʋm] - to
Kunst [kʋnst] - art

[y] - short; similar to the Russian "yu" between consonants, as in the word "hatch"

fünf [fynf] - five
dunn [dynn] - thin
Lücke ['lykə] - space, skip
müssen ['mysən] - should, be due
küssen ['kysən] - kiss
fullen ['fylən] - fill

This is a peculiar sound, but it is not difficult to learn how to pronounce it between consonants. But in order to pronounce this sound in the initial position, you will have to practice: Ücker ['ykɐ] (name of the river): ü , not "yu". Say "i-i-i" with rounded lips and you'll get the right sound.

[œ] - short; similar to the Russian "ё" between consonants, as in the word "ice"

Cologne [kœln] - Cologne
können ['kœnən] - can
rösten ['rœstən] - fry
löschen ['lœʃən] - extinguish, extinguish
Köpfe ['kœpfə] - head (pl from der Kopf - head )
Blöcke ['blœkə] - blocks (pl from der Block - block )

Here are the most common words with exceptions (long vowels instead of short ones):

die Stadt [di ʃtat] city (with short " a ") - die Städte [di 'ʃtε:tə] city (with long " e ")
das Mädchen [das 'mε:tçən] - girl, girl
der Mond [deɐ mo:nt] - moon, month (with long " about ")

← Spelling: spelling of nouns

Long vowels →

Sounds in English: pronunciation, transcription 🗣️

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It happens that you speak English with a foreigner, but he does not understand you. And then you find out that the letter “a” alone can be pronounced in six different ways. We understand English sounds in order to sound correctly and speak the same language with foreigners.

In the English language, the number of words that are not pronounced at all as they are written is very large - this is the result of historical changes and the standardization of written English in the 17th century. Knowing how English sounds are read, you can almost always read even the most intricate word.

The English alphabet has 26 letters, 20 vowels and 23 consonants. The more you delve into the English language, the more difficult words you will meet along the way. The science of phonetics will come in handy here, just in time. And we will share life hacks on the study of this topic.

Transcription of English sounds

In order to study all possible variations of sounds, linguists have developed an alphabet that contains special characters. This alphabet was called International Phonetic Alphabet (International Phonetic Alphabet).

It is these characters that are used in modern transcriptions of English words. Transcription, by the way, is a graphic representation of sounds. Indicate the transcription in square brackets.

Let's look at the examples below, how one letter can be read in two different ways. The difference in pronunciation can depend on the type of syllable, the position of the letter in the word, and whether the vowel is stressed.

In the word type (print/type), the letter y is in an open syllable and therefore reads like [aɪ].
In the word copy (copy / copy), the letter y is in an unstressed syllable at the end of the word and therefore reads like [i].

However, it is worth trying to learn the pronunciation of sounds and various combinations of sounds. There is no division into short and long consonants in Russian. In English, the incorrect pronunciation of such vowels leads to significant changes in the meaning of the word.

So, for example, confusing the short and long sound [i] (read as “and” in the Russian word “game”), you can accidentally say “I boarded a sheep” - I boarded a sheep [ʃ iː p], and not "I boarded a ship" - I boarded a ship [ʃ ɪ p].

Useful gifts for parents

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Common English Consonant and Vowel Chart (IPA)

Below is a table of all known English phonemes. The vowels are in the gray area and the consonants are in the yellow area. Short and long vowels are indicated on a light gray background, and diphthongs - sounds consisting of two elements - are located on a dark gray background.

All consonants are located on a yellow background and differ in font color. Voiceless consonants ( voiceless/unvoiced ) are shown in gray, and voiced ones ( voiced ) are shown in black.

How many English words do you already know?

Let's define your vocabulary - without complex questions and with the help of smart algorithms.

Classification of sounds in English

In English, sounds are divided into two groups: vowels and consonants. Let's take a look at them.

Another effective way to quickly memorize English sounds is to sign up for English lessons for children 8 years old online at Skysmart School.

Your five in English.

With detailed homework solutions from Skysmart

Vowel sounds of the English language

From the school curriculum of the Russian language, we remember that the main characteristic of vowel sounds is their melodiousness. This is due to the fact that when pronouncing a vowel sound, the air passing through the vocal cords vibrates and the sound freely leaves the oral cavity without encountering any obstacles in its path. Here is the rule for pronunciation of vowels:

Vowel	IPA	Word examples	Vowel	IPA	Word examples
/a/	æ	c a t	/oo/	-	l oo k, w ou ld, p u t
/e/	and	p e g, br ea d	/ar/	ɑ:	c ar t, f a st (regional)
/i/	ɪ	p i g , g i ve	/ur/	ɜ:	b ur n, f ir st, t er m, h ear d, w or k
/o/	ɒ	l o g, w a nt	/au/	ɔ:	t or n, d oor , w ar n, h au l, l aw , c a ll
/u/	-	pl u g, l o ve	/er/	ə	wood e n, circ u s, sist er
/ae/	eɪ	p ai n, d ay , g a t e , st a tion	/ow/	aʊ	d ow n, sh ou t
/ee/	i:	sw ee t, h ea t, th ie f, th e s e	/oi/	ɔɪ	c oi n, b oy
/ie/	aɪ	tr ie d, l igh t, m y , shin e , m i nd	/air/	eə	st air s, b ear , h are
/oe/	or	r oa d, bl ow , b o ne, c o ld	/ear/	ɪə	f ear , b eer , h ere
/ue/	u:	m oo n, bl ue , gr ew , t u ne	/ure/	ʊə	p ure , c u re

Consonant sounds of the English language

When articulating a sound, the air flow encounters obstacles in its path formed by the organs of speech: tongue, lips, teeth and alveoli. Passing through these barriers, air passes through the gap and noise is created.

Consonant	IPA	Word examples	Consonant	IPA	Word examples
/b/	b	b aby	/r/	r	r abbit, wr ong
/d/	d	d og	/s/	s	s un, mou se , c ity, sc ience
/f/	f	f ield, ph oto	/t/	t	t ap
/g/	g	g ame	/v/	v	v an
/h/	h	h at	/w/	w	w as
/j/	-	ju dg e, g iant, bar ge	/y/		and es
/k/	k	c oo k , q ui ck , mi x , Ch ris	/z/	z	z ebra, plea se , i s
/l/	l	l amb	/th/	to	th en
/m/	m	m onkey, co mb	/th/	θ	th in
/n/	n	n ut, kn ife, gn at	/ch/	-	ch ip, wa tch
/ng/	ŋ	ri ng , si n k	/sh/	-	sh ip, mi ss ion, ch ef
/p/	p	p a p er	/	-	trea s ure

English cheat sheets for parents

All English formulas at hand

Natalya Naumova

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149.