List of words with long a vowel sound

Long Vowel Sounds: Word Lists & Activities

Phonics | Spelling

ByDelilah Orpi

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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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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:

1. a – baby
2. a_e – cake
3. ai – rain
4. ay – play
5. ei – reindeer
6. eigh – weight
7. ea – steak
8. 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:

1. e – be
2. e_e – eve
3. ee – meet
4. ea – beach
5. ei – protein
6. ie – piece
7. ey – key
8. 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:

1. i – silent
2. i_e – shine
3. ie – pie
4. igh – light
5. y – my
6. 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:

1. o – go
2. o_e – phone
3. oe – toe
4. oa – boat
5. 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:

1. u – music
2. u_e – mule
3. ue – rescue
4. eu – feud
5. ew – few
6. oo – food
7. 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!

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.

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229+ Long A Words (Free Printable List)

Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Long Vowels | Phonics | Vowels

ByKatie July 25, 2022October 24, 2022

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.

Learn all about the long A sound, including the 8 ways to spell long vowel A: a, a-e, ai, ay, ei, ea, eigh, and ey. Learn how to teach long A and get a FREE printable list of words with long A sounds organized by spelling pattern.

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Table of Contents

• All About Long A
• Long A Words
• Tips & Suggestions
• Related Posts
• Download & Print

All About Long A

Teaching students all the different ways to spell long vowels will help them become more independent, confident readers:

• Long a says /ā/ like acorn.
• Long e says /ē/ like equal.
• Long i says /ī/ like ice.
• Long o says /ō/ like ocean.
• Long u says /yoo/ like unicorn, OR /oo/ like ruler.

A is the first vowel I teach, and the long A sound can be spelled using 8 different patterns:

• The most common spellings of long A are A, A-E, AI, and AY.
• Less frequent ways to spell /ā/ are EI, EA, EIGH, and EY.

These patterns can be heard at the beginning, middle, or end of words. Long A can be spelled with a silent e, open syllable, or using a vowel team.

👉 For a free, complete, and printable list of 229 long A words, scroll to the bottom of this post and download it. But be sure to read all about long A first!

There are 8 ways to spell long A:

1. a like acorn
2. a-e like cake
3. ai like rain
4. ay like day
5. ei like reindeer
6. ea like steak
7. eigh like eight
8. ey like hey

Long A Words

Open Syllable Words

The letter A will say its name, or its long sound, when it is the last letter in a syllable. This is called an open syllable.

Long A sound word examples that include open syllables:

A-E Words (Long A Silent E)

The letter A will say its name when it follows a Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) pattern. The E is magic, stays silent, and it makes the A say its name.

That is why we hear the long A sound in these words. This spelling pattern is used at the end of base words.

Long A silent E words:

AI Vowel Team Words

The vowel team AI is another way to spell long A. This is a spelling that usually comes in the middle of words.

I teach my students this jingle: “A-I in the middle says /ā/.” Make sure you say the letter names “A” and “I” when saying the jingle.

It is common to teach this spelling along with the vowel team AY (keep on reading below!).

Common words with long A in the middle, using the vowel team AI:

AY Vowel Team Words

The vowel team AY is another way to spell long A, and this pattern is used at the end of base words. I use this jingle with my students: “A Y at the end says /ā/.” (Again, make sure you say the letter names “A” and “Y” when saying the jingle.)

The great thing about this vowel team is that if they hear /ā/ at the end of a base or root word, it will most likely be spelled with AY.

Common words with long A at the end, using the vowel team AY:

EI, EA, EIGH, & EY Words (Vowel Teams)

These next four vowel teams are not commonly used to spell the long A sound. Be sure students have mastered the first four most common spellings for Long A before introducing these patterns.

Words with Vowel Team EI to spell long A:

• reindeer
• rein
• vein
• veil
• reign
• beige

Words with Vowel Team EA to spell long A:

• steak
• break
• great
• yea
• breakup
• outbreak

Words with Vowel Team EIGH to spell long A:

• eight
• eighty
• eighteen
• weigh
• weight
• neighbor
• freight
• sleigh
• neigh

Words with Vowel Team EY to spell long A:

• hey
• they
• obey
• grey
• prey
• survey
• convey
• disobey

Tips & Suggestions

• Before teaching long vowels, students should have a firm command of the five short vowel sounds, including all consonants, blends, and digraphs.
• Be sure to explicitly teach these long A patterns one at a time, in sequential order.
• Use a variety of activities to teach these long A spellings! Hands-on activities and multisensory activities are best.
• Get the rest of the printable Long Vowel Word Lists: Long E, Long I, Long O, and Long U!

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• Long Vowel Anchor Chart
• Printable Long & Short Vowel Sorts
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How is it going teaching the long vowel A? We’d love to get your feedback! Tag us on Instagram @LiteracyLearn or comment below to let us know how you’re using the words on this list.

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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 English, the number of words that are not pronounced at all as they are written is very high - 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 as [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], not "I boarded a ship" - I boarded a ship [ʃ ɪ p].

Useful gifts for parents

There are guaranteed prizes in the wheel of fortune that will help improve the learning process and build relationships with your child!

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 on a yellow background and are distinguished by 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:

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.

English cheat sheets for parents

All English formulas at hand

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Prepositions in English

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Times in English

Get a development plan in the free introduction lesson

1. We will determine the level and give advice on learning

2. We will tell you how the classes are going

3. Let's choose a course

Pronunciation of English sounds: æ, a:, ʌ. Detailed instructions.

Learning the correct English pronunciation is another challenge. The first difficulty is mastering the rules of reading, because words in English are read quite differently from how they are written. By the way, there is an excellent video about this phenomenon in our Material Library. I advise you to look!

The second difficulty: even if your reading rules bounce off your teeth, and you know exactly which combination of letters - which sound means, you need to learn how to pronounce this sound. At the same time, it seems that the most “invincible” sounds for us are those that have no analogues in our language (like /w/ , /θ/, /ð/ ).

However, sounds that have “twins” in Russian turn out to be no less complex, because we, willy-nilly, replace them with our own, relatives. In this article, we will polish the pronunciation of three such sounds: / æ / , / ʌ / , / a: / .

Let's do it according to the following scheme:

1. Let's deal with pronunciation in detail in theory;
2. Let's practice on a special set of words and tongue twisters for the sounds of the English language;
3. Finally, let's find an example of the use of sound in a well-known song so that it is imprinted forever in the auditory memory.

What's wrong with these sounds?

Why these sounds? Because we often replace them with one - Russian / a /, which creates our rather recognizable accent ( /æ/ can also be replaced by Russian /e/ ) .

Before starting, I will immediately make a reservation that I will not dwell on the rules of reading : the question is quite extensive, and the purpose of the article is to “train” on the correct pronunciation of the sound itself. The second caveat: the article will use British pronunciation of words (I will indicate below which words are being discussed).

Sound /æ/ - neither A nor E

It is pronounced in such words as man , that , dad , etc. This sound is called "frog" or "butterfly" for convenience, but its scientific name is "Near-Open Front Unrounded Vowel" .

How the speech apparatus works: the tongue is moved forward, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth. The middle back of the tongue is slightly curved forward and upward. The distance between the jaws is significant. Throat and tongue tense. The sound is short.

Possible error: replacing the sound / æ / with / e / or / a / , although this sound is neither. If we look for parallels with Russian phonemes, then it looks more like that sound / a /, which is used by us after the soft consonants in the shock position (compare the sound in word P A and P LITCOS - CONTENTIONS OF THE LIGHTS, ONLY AGREE. ). At the same time, the corners of the lips move apart further from each other than for the word p i faces (as if you want to smile).