Words with long vowel sounds a

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:

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.

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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.

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:

a like acorn
a-e like cake
ai like rain
ay like day
ei like reindeer
ea like steak
eigh like eight
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:

acorn	major	able	navy	patience	apricot
bacon	razor	April	native	glacier	ago
baby	nature	labor	tomato	mason	naked
table	patient	maple	vapor	Katie	Arabia
paper	basil	favor	apron	sacred	apex
lady	Asia	Jamie	equator	lazy	agency
station	nation	acre	volcano	basin	cable
radio	potato	stable	agent	label	quotation
famous	crazy	Amy	Jason	basis	cradle
David	basic	range	tornado	Caleb	radiant

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:

cake	age	rate	gate	awake	flame
make	lake	race	stage	slave	cape
came	case	wave	tale	whale	sale
take	safe	save	brave	date	trace
place	shape	trade	hate	shade	phrase
same	gave	plane	grade	ate	chase
name	state	cave	base	frame	pace
face	space	ape	cage	parade	escape
page	game	Jane	pale	male	create
late	blame	snake	plate	cane	became

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:

rain	plain	sail	gain	contain
wait	paid	detail	faint	faith
afraid	laid	grain	pail	fail
main	trail	remain	jail	maid
tail	raise	chain	aid	snail
train	brain	mail	nail	strain
explain	pain	daily	claim	railroad
paint	dairy	Spain	waist	tailor

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:

day	hay	bay	mayor	decay
way	stay	pray	maybe	display
away	lay	stray	always	subway
may	pay	Sunday	yesterday	sway
say	gray	highway	payment	betray
today	spray	essay	birthday	repay
play	okay	crayon	holiday	playmate
ray	clay	relay	anyway	beltway

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!

Long Vowel Anchor Chart
Printable Long & Short Vowel Sorts
30 Tips for Teaching Letters & Sounds

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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.

TERMS: All resources and printables are designed for personal use only in your own home and classroom. Each person must visit this site and download their own free copy. Please do not photocopy, email, or reproduce our printable resources for other teachers, and please do not reproduce our printables on the web or save them to a shared drive. Instead, please share the resources with others by using the social share links provided or by distributing the link to the blog post itself. This allows us to keep making free resources for everyone! If you have any questions, please email us. Thank you!

Long and short vowels in English

Longitude is one of the characteristics of a vowel sound, which shows the relative duration of its sound compared to other sounds.

Longitude can be positional and phonemic. In the first case, the duration of the vowel depends on the position in the word and stress, while this characteristic does not affect the meaning. The phonemic length of a vowel has a semantic function, that is, depending on the length of the sound, the meaning of the word changes. nine0003

Length of vowel sounds in English

In Russian, the length of vowel sounds does not affect the meaning of words and changes only depending on stress. In English, vowels differ not only in positional but also in phonemic length. This means that long and short sounds, similar in other characteristics, represent different phonemes. Words that differ only in these phonemes have different meanings: ship - sheep , fit - feet , pull - pool . Therefore, it is so important to pronounce long and short sounds correctly.

In transcription, long vowels are indicated with a colon: [i:], [α:], [ɔ:], [u:], [ә:]. In some cases, long vowels in an unstressed position are reduced and become semi-long, which in transcription is indicated by one dot from above: [α ].

The long vowels listed above are opposed to short vowels, forming the following pairs in English:

[i:] - [ı]
[uː] - [u]
[ɔ:] - [ɒ]
[α:] - [ʌ]
[ә:] - [ə]

The pronunciation of long and short English vowels often causes difficulties for Russian learners of English, since in Russian vowels do not have phonemic longitude, and we are not used to distinguishing the length of a vowel sound by ear. We often do not hear the difference between long and short vowels when listening to English speech. It is still not clear how long you need to draw a sound when speaking, so very unnatural, or almost inaudible, or too long vowels are obtained. It is impossible to correctly pronounce short and long sounds so that a native speaker hears the difference, even if you diligently shorten short vowels and stretch out long ones. nine0003

Sometimes it seems that native speakers themselves do not know the difference between short and long sounds, they seem to pronounce them the same way - but they themselves understand each other. But it's not. Let's see what are the differences between long and short English vowels, how to learn to hear them and how to train their pronunciation.

Differences between long and short English sounds

It is logical to assume that if vowels are called long or short, they differ in sound length. This is the main difference between them, but not the only one. It is important to understand that long and short sounds have other differences, which consist in articulatory features. This means that the sounds are not just of different lengths, they are also different in sound. And most often it is these articulatory features that determine the length of the vowel sound: the duration of the sound depends on the position of the tongue and the tension of the vocal apparatus. nine0003

Long and short English vowels differ in such a characteristic as tension. Long vowels are tense, in English they are also called tense . When they are pronounced, the root of the tongue seems to be tense, under tension. The sound is pronounced, bright, rich, clear.

Short vowels are called lax – relaxed. The tongue in the region of the root is relaxed, the vowel sound is articulated quickly, easily, without additional effort, as if bursting. It turns out short, inconspicuous, faded and fuzzy. nine0003

Qualitative differences in sounds in different pairs of English vowels range from pronounced to almost imperceptible. It is easy to notice the difference between long and short sounds a: pay attention to how the words cart and cut are pronounced, they differ not only in duration, but also in sound. But the differences between long and short u are almost imperceptible: pool and pull sound very similar, only slightly different in length. The Scots generally pronounce them the same way, differing only in context. nine0003

In addition, the duration of the pronunciation of vowels is also affected by positional longitude - for example, stressed or unstressed position in a word. As a result, a short vowel sound in one word may sound longer than a long sound in another word.

Thus, it is not enough to rely only on the subjective duration of a vowel sound. All the features of short and long vowels described above must be taken into account when learning English. It remains to understand how to master the pronunciation of long and short sounds in practice. nine0003

How to learn to pronounce long and short English vowels

The main mistake foreigners make when pronouncing long and short English sounds is focusing only on duration. But with this approach, it is intuitively incomprehensible where the boundary between a long and a short sound passes: you can’t measure the length of a sound with a stopwatch. When trying to artificially lengthen or shorten a vowel, the sounds are unnaturally short or drawn out. nine0003

To learn how to pronounce long and short English sounds, you need to forget about the usual terminology "long" and "short". Try not to think about the duration of the sound at all. To correctly pronounce long and short vowels, you need to focus on their articulation, and not on duration. If we correctly reproduce the pronunciation of the vowel, then the duration will turn out to be correct automatically. Remember that long vowels require more tension at the root of the tongue, while short ones are pronounced without additional effort, easily and without tension. nine0003

Pay attention to how native speakers pronounce vowels - don't watch how long they draw them out, but watch the pronunciation, the articulation, the quality of the sound. Repeat, imitate, practice. For practice, it is best to use video lessons or a conversation with a native speaker, since audio materials do not make it possible to see articulation.

It is best to train long and short sounds not separately, but as part of words. First, this way you will note the influence of positional longitude on the duration of the sound in specific examples. Secondly, just as words are best learned in context, sounds are also best learned in the environment. nine0003

Practice pronunciation of long and short vowels in pairs of words to notice the difference between sounds, for example:

Sport – hot
Arm-cut
See-hit
Food-put
Fur – ago

When you learn how to pronounce long and short vowels correctly in English, it will become easy to distinguish between them in speech. When listening to speech, forget about the differences in duration, pay attention to the qualitative differences in sounds - how intensely the vowel is pronounced, how bright or faded it sounds, how pairs of sounds differ from each other, except for duration. nine0003

English vowels

Short vowels ( Short vowels ) in English in transcription are indicated as follows:

box
dog [dͻg]dog

pig[pig]pig

Long vowels ( Long vowels ) in English in transcription are indicated as follows:

horse [hͻ:s] horse
keep [ki:p]keep nine0003
steal[sti:l]steal

To convey longitude in transcription, a colon is placed after the sound, as in the examples.

Consider the first short sound [i] . Pronounced like a Russian sound [and] . Pronounce this sound briefly.

Now try to read it yourself
nine0126

dig [dig] dig- shovel

brik [brik]brik - brick

skip [skip] skip - jump

Read and compare short and long sounds

still [stil]still - steal [sti:l]steal

be [bi]be - bee [bi:]bee
ship [ship]ship- sheep [shi:p]sheep

Now a short vowel sound [ӕ] . Pronounced like a Russian sound [e] .

Now try to read this sound yourself:

snack [snӕk] snack
map [mӕp] map

manager [mӕnidʒə] manager

Sound [e] .

Try to pronounce the sound [e] yourself nine0003

metal [`metl]metal
seldom [`seldəm]seldom - rarely

belt [belt]

Let's move on to a short sound [ə]

Sound [ə] in English is called schwa is a neutral sound. This sound is unstressed and practically unpronounceable, it is found in many English words.

Example:

burglar [`bз:glə]burglar - thief
advance [əd`va:ns] advance

master [`ma:stə]master

Consider the example a cup of tea . In this example, the article a and the preposition of are the neutral sound schwa .

[ə`kʌpə ti:]

Hence the name cuppa - a cup of tea. nine0003

Now consider the short sound [ʊ]

Let's try to read this sound on our own

book [buk] book - book
cook [kuk]cook

took [tuk]took - took

Next sound [ʌ] .

Try to read the sound yourself [ʌ]

[dʌv] Dove- dove nine0002 [dʒʌmp] jump

[wʌn] one

Last sound [ɒ]

Trying to pronounce this sound ourselves

odds [ɒdz]odds-opportunities
office [`ɒfis] office

off [ɒf] off

We now know how to pronounce short vowels correctly. Do not forget that in order to pronounce sounds correctly, you need to listen to the speech of native speakers more often. Watch movies, instructional videos, listen to songs. Phonetics in English is an integral part of the language, as well as grammar. If you know the rules of grammar perfectly, but don't pronounce the words well, you will not be understood. nine0003

The main thing is to pronounce words clearly and correctly. You must understand that in English there are a huge number of words that are similar in spelling, but they are pronounced differently. For example, the words ship - ship and sheep - sheep. The spelling is a bit similar for these words, but what about the pronunciation? Let's look at the transcription of the words: ship [ʃ i p] and sheep [ʃ i: p] . The first word has a short vowel, and the second has a long vowel. If you pronounce these words incorrectly, for example, the first word with a long vowel, and the second with a short one, then you will not be understood correctly, you may even put yourself in a stupid position. That is why it is necessary to study the phonetics of the language. nine0003

Let me give you another example. In the English language, intonation is very important when you ask: How are you? How are you? You should ask with a high intonation, if you say with a low intonation, the interlocutor will think that you are a very angry and aggressive person. In order not to frighten the interlocutors, study the rules of intonation.

Now we will analyze long vowels ( Long vowels ).

Consider the first long vowel [i:] .

Now we know how to pronounce these sounds correctly. Let's try to read words with a long vowel [i:] on our own:

precede [pri`si:d]precede
secretive [`si:krətiv] secretive

negro [`ni:grəʊ]negro

tease [ti:z] tease

uneasily [ʌn`i:zili]uneasily-not easy

speed [spi:d]speed nine0003
queen [kwi:n]queen

premium [`pri:miəm] premium

Next, consider the sound [ɜ:] .

Let's try to pronounce words with this sound on our own:

reserve [ri`zɜ: v] reserve
reserve [`sɜ: fis] reserve- surface

survey [`sɜ:vei] survey

versus [`vɜ:səs]versus - in comparison with

worker [`wɜ:kə] worker nine0003
worst [wɜ:st]worst - worst

sunburn [`sunbɜ:n]sunburn - sunburn

Consider the long vowel [ a: ] .

Let's try it ourselves:

hard [ha:d]hard - hard
enchant [in`tʃa:nt]enchant - enchant

spark [`spa:k]spark

laughter [`la: ftə] laughter - laughter

raft [ra:ft]raft - raft nine0126

Long vowel [u:] .

Now we can pronounce words with this sound ourselves. We try:

schoolmate [`sku:lmeit]schoolmate - classmate
suit [sju: t] suit

new [nju:]new

numeral [`nju:mərəl]numeral - numeral

The next sound is [ ͻ:] .