Words with the long u sound list

100+ Long U Vowel Sound Words & How to Spell Them • 7ESL

Where would the world be without long u words? This is a question that I ask myself every night before I go to bed. Long u words comprise some of my favorite words to say in any language. For example, within the grouping known as the notorious long u words, we have “music” and “fruit”. I don’t know about you but I do not want to live in a world without long u words?

Can you imagine going a week without music or fruit? No thank you! Let’s go over the concept of long u words together in order to see what we have got on our hands.

Table of Contents

Long U Words

What Are Long U Words?

What even are long u words? Long u words are a set of words that when pronounced, make an extended u sound. But before you run off with this newfound knowledge, allow me to explain that the long u sound can vary. That means that it is possible to have two words that make completely different sounds and yet have both be considered long u words.

If you want an example, we only need to find ourselves back at the beginning of this article. The words “music” and “fruit” are both long u words. But while we can obviously hear the “u” sound in music, fruit is a whole other story. Keep this in mind because we will be going over this in greater detail in the next section.

Ways to Spell Long U Words

The time has finally come. We will now be going over all of the patterns that make up a long u word’s spelling. Hang on because we have quite a bit to go over in this section.

U – This is the easiest to understand. “Music” will once again be our example.
U_E – The insatiable consonant is back. This time it wants to be sandwiched between a U and an E. Think “mule” for an example.
UE – This pairing of UE does not like sharing. The word “rescue” is a great example of this combination in action.
EU – Not short for the US vassal states but for the long U sound created in words like “feud”.
EW – Not just used when seeing something that grosses you out but also for words like “chew”.
OO – “Food” is the representative of this category. A great representative at that.
OU – Not “oh, you” but OU, as in “soup”.
UI – The infamous “fruit” makes its way back into the fold.

Learn more with long vowel words English.

List of Long U Words

u (yoo) long U words

U

Music
Pupil
Unite
Unit
Human
Unicorn
Universe
Uniform
Cupid
Bugle

U-E

Cube
Use
Cute
Mute
Fume
Huge

UE

Rescue
Argue

EU

Europe
Feud
Eulogy
Feudal

OO (oo) long U words

EW

U

Ruby
Truth
Tulip
Numeral
Stupid
Rumor
Duty
Student

U-E

Tube
Rule
Tune
Flute
June
Rude
Flume
Chute

UE

Blue
True
Glue
Due
Sue
Tissue
Issue
Virtue
Statue
Avenue

EW

Dew
Chew
Blew
Crew
New
Flew
stew
Grew
Drew
Shewed

OO

Food
Mood
Moon
Broom
Droop
Shoot
Soon
Tooth
Troop
Cool
Choose

OU

Soup
Group
Wound
Recoup
Troupe

Conclusion

We’ve reached the end! Armed with your newfound knowledge of long u words, the English language sure does seem a whole lot simpler. You would be right to believe this because English is neither complex nor sophisticated. Anyone can learn it!

Long U Words | Image

Categories Vocabulary, Words

How To Teach Long U Words

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Last up in my series of long vowel sounds, I’m sharing tips and tricks to teach long u words! Because there are two ways to pronounce long u, it is the most complex of long vowel sounds to teach. I’m going to break down each of the eight ways to spell the long u sound, and the best activities to help you teach long u words to your students.

Looking for a long u word list? You can download the list pictured by signing up below. If you don’t see the signup form, click here.

Two Sounds For Long U!

Yes, long u can make 2 different sounds! I know I didn’t learn that in school but it’s true. Let’s look at an example below.

Say tube and cube. Notice how u in tube makes more of an /oo/ sound while in cube it sounds more like /y/ /oo/. Those are the two different long u sounds.

There is some confusion and discussion over whether the /y/ /oo/ sound is a diphthong (2 vowels making 2 sounds together, like oi/oy). Truly, it doesn’t matter what it’s called as long as you teach students how to read and spell them correctly.

Now let’s go over the different ways to spell these sounds.

Eight Ways To Spell Long U

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

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

The majority of these are vowel teams, so students should already know the open, silent e, and vowel team syllables. Students should also be able to find the base word, as some of these rules apply to the base word even if it has a suffix.

Spelling Generalizations for Long U

U alone

At the end of an open syllable, u makes the long u sound (says its name) and this is one of the most common ways of spelling the long u sound. Some examples include pupil, tulip, and student. It can make either the /oo/ or the /y/ /oo/ sound. Students must understand how to split words into syllables and know what open syllables are.

U_E Spelling Pattern

The u silent e spelling pattern is also common, but much less than u alone. This one is usually in the middle of a base word. Examples include cute, rule, and fume. It can make either the /oo/ or the /y/ /oo/ sound. Of course, students should be confident with the magic e syllable.

EW Vowel Team

Much less common is the ew spelling of the long u sound in the middle or end of a base word. This is another one that can make both long u sounds. Examples include few and dew.

UE Vowel Team

UE usually spells the long u sound at the end of a word following a consonant sound. Examples include due and cue. As you can see it can make both long u sounds. This is not used very often.

OO and OU Vowel Teams

These two are also pretty common, but the oo spelling is the most common.

OO can be in any part of the word while ou making the long u sound is usually in the middle of a word.

EU Vowel Team

Long u spelled eu is pretty rare. Examples include feud and Europe. This one always makes the /yoo/ sound.

UI Vowel Team

The long u spelling of ui is also not very common. There are some common words like fruit and juice with this spelling, but not many other words use this spelling pattern for the long u sound. This one only makes the /oo/ sound.

Tips For Teaching Long U Words

How to teach the difference between /y/ /oo/ and /oo/

There isn’t really a rule for when the u says /oo/ or /y/ /oo/. They both have to be explicitly taught.

I got this idea from the Phonics & Spelling Through Grapheme Mapping book. Use the words mew and moo, with a picture of a cat for mew and a picture of a cow for moo.

Say this: “Say mew. Now, say mew without /m/.” Answer: /y/ /oo/

Then do the same with moo.

Say this: “Say moo. Now, say moo without /m/.” Answer: /oo/

Students should be able to clearly hear the difference in the sounds when doing this activity. You can use the picture of the cat and cow to help guide students on the correct pronunciation, although most won’t need this.

When students are sounding out words and they don’t know which sound to go with, tell them to try both and see which sounds right.

Syllabication & Sounding Out Words

Remember that students should always split unknown words into syllables as they try to sound them out.

Students should first break the word into its syllables, and try to eliminate some spelling options. So for example, if they are trying to spell the word human, they should know it won’t be with ew because that spelling option is usually at the end of a base word. If they still ask, you can cue them with something like ‘it’s the end of a syllable so what do you think can go there?’ Guide them in choosing the correct spelling pattern.

You can also use the guide words approach, where you choose one guide word for each spelling pattern to use as the reference. So for ew, you can use the word few. Then you can cue by saying, “u like in few“.

Also, because there are multiple options expect students to get them wrong sometimes, and tell them this! It’s ok if they make mistakes as long as it’s another valid spelling option and not something that doesn’t follow any rules. Through repeated exposure and practice they will eventually internalize the correct spelling pattern for words.

Lots of practice and repeated exposure are the names of the game with the long u sound. Do a variety of activities repeating the words as many times as you can.

Long U Activities & Lesson Ideas

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping – This is a great activity that really isolates the phonograms for students to practice. You can get the Phonics & Spelling Through Grapheme Mapping book and follow the long u lesson, or use my long u word list to do the same activity using sound boxes. See below for an example.

Create short stories to help anchor the spelling patterns. – Group similar words together and create a short story using them to help students remember them For example, with oo, you could say ‘The pool was too cool so we ate our food’ or something like that. Draw a picture or create your own poster with images of words with this spelling pattern and put it up in your room.

SOS – If you don’t already know what Simultaneous Oral Spelling is, then check out this post here. I love this multisensory spelling method for practicing spelling. And you can do this whole class or one on one making it really easy to use in any setting.

Dictation – This is another fantastic activity but I would do this after you have spent some time on long u because it is harder for some students. Also when dictating words, give students a clue about the spelling such as telling them it’s a vowel team or open syllable. I often dictate words that all have the same spelling pattern to avoid these problems.

Sorting – Sorting is always a good idea when you have multiple options for spelling. You can play matching games like memory, just sort them into piles/columns, or create any game that requires sorting by spelling pattern. This builds phonemic awareness so it’s always a good activity for all students.

You can also sort by color coding the vowel team or spelling pattern in the words. I took the list from the SOS activity, then had my student highlight each vowel team in a specific color to more visually show the groups.

I include 3 different sorting activities for the long u sound in my Long U Worksheets & Activities set.

Picture cue cards – Create visual graphics of tricky words, homophones, and homographs. These picture cues really help students remember which pattern to use. I suggest you make these using index cards and keep them in a baggie or box for reference. See an example below (it’s for a long o sound but you get the idea).

Games – Of course, I always include games because it’s just so easy to add a stack of flashcards to any game and make it educational! Use an easy to play board game where students need to pick up a card on their turn and add a task like reading the word aloud and sorting it, or asking another player to spell it, or even something as simple as having them air write the word after reading it aloud. Or print off a teacher-made game from my Long U Word Work set.

I typically use the printable board game pictured below (which you can get for free in my library after joining my email list). I create a stack of long u words flashcards and play, having students pick up a card and read it aloud then write it on their turn.

Constant Review – Remember to keep these spelling patterns in constant review after they are learned, so they are not forgotten. Using a sound wall or phonogram drills are great ways to do this without it taking up a lot of time.

Check out my Long U Word Work Worksheets & Activities resource in my TPT store for ready to use long u activities, reference sheets and posters, and printable worksheets.

Want to remember this? Save How To Teach Long U Words to your favorite Pinterest board!

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Which words have more sounds than letters in Russian: a list of words

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September 29, 2020 08:51

Tags: letters video sounds useful to know words photo

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No wonder the Russian language is considered difficult and rich in synonyms and various spelling rules for certain words. Children learn grammar from the first grade and this baggage of knowledge does not fit in a few years. Even in adulthood, you can learn something new in the Russian language. Interestingly, there are words in which the number of sounds and letters does not match. It happens that there are fewer letters, but more sounds. Why what is written differs from what was said, we will consider further, we will find out in which words there are more sounds than letters. nine0003

If we parse the word phonetically, the result will be the following picture: the number of sounds will not correspond to the number of letters in the word. It often happens that there are more sounds in words than letters themselves. And if you also know which words have more sounds than letters in Russian, then you definitely remember the information that the teacher taught at school. Below is a picture where there are examples of the correct spelling of words and their phonetic analysis, or rather the word is broken down into sounds. nine0003

A source:

As you can see, one thing is written, but another is heard. Look below for some examples of such words in Russian grammar: )

There are many such words with more sounds than letters in Russian grammar. And knowing the rules, when a vowel and a consonant means two sounds, you can give many examples on your own. See below for some more examples of such words. nine0003

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Examples:

Eralash - ⌈yiralash⌋
apples - ⌈yablaki⌋
caustic - ⌈yetk`Iye⌋
raccoon - ⌈yinot⌋
Christmas tree - ⌈yololk⌋
capacious - ⌈yomk`IIE⌋

Import there is a soft, hard sign and there are vowels: E, E, Yu, I, then the letters and sounds will be equalized due to the fact that soft, hard signs do not have any sounds. nine0003

A source:

There are some rules thanks to them and you can understand which words have more sounds than letters. When performing phonetic analysis of a word, students often have some difficulties due to incomplete knowledge of the rules for writing sounds. A letter is considered a graphic symbol that is used in writing.

See the image below, remember when Yo, E, Ya, Yu stand for two sounds. nine0003

A source:

In phonetic analysis, the word is written as it is heard, and if the letter is soft, then it is indicated by two sounds. When just a word is written, then such designations do not need to be done. As you have already seen, the letters Yo, E, Ya, Yu can represent two sounds each, a lot depends on the position where they stand in the word. Examples: Luke - ⌈l'uk⌋, Cabin - ⌈kai'uta⌋.

In the 20th century, publications often did not print the letter Ё, and in our time some publications have this tradition, but still such a letter exists in Russian grammar and it denotes two sounds: ⌈yu⌋ under certain conditions. Namely, when it is at the very beginning of a word, when it is written after any vowel, and if it is written after a soft, hard sign.

IMPORTANT: An interesting fact is that back in 1942, Stalin pointed out that the letter Yo has a place in Russian grammar. And it should be written where it is consonant. nine0003

In Russian, everyone knows that there are 33 letters of which there are vowels in total - six pieces, twenty-one consonants, but not everyone knows how many sounds. There are thirty-six consonants, or rather those that designate them, and ten vowels.

According to the phonetic sound of the word, it must be pronounced, including all sounds, soft, hard, etc. The key information is consistency. In any language there are differences in the spelling and pronunciation of words. It is interesting that languages also spread among the people at first at the level of sound, and then the spelling of words is studied. nine0003

The question is, of course, why make things so complicated? But sounds are widely used not only for conversations, but also in vocal works. All talented singers, singers study these sounds, for example, the letter I, with a long sound, later goes to the sound A. This is taught on purpose, if the pronunciation of the word is incorrect, the song will not sound and the sound of this or that word will not be fully revealed. Thanks to vowel sounds, a word can sound more melodic and longer. It is the sounds that form the basis of the correct pronunciation of the word. Thanks to them, our language can convey not only meaning, but also emotions. nine0003

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Pronunciation of long and short English vowels

their duration. The main reason long and short vowels in English give us so much trouble is simple - we don't understand them. We do not understand how to pronounce them correctly and how to confidently distinguish them in speech. We can be understood, because the duration of the sound is a subjective thing. Do not measure it with a stopwatch! Do the British themselves rely solely on the duration of the sound? Of course not! nine0003

Struggle for quality

First, all English vowels differ qualitatively. For a beginner, this difference may not be obvious, however, the more clearly you remember this fact, the faster you will learn to determine this qualitative difference. Pay attention to the transcription of short [ɪ] and long [iː] English "and". Yes, a colon is added to the long sound, but the main character is not the same - precisely in order to reflect the difference in the quality of the sound, and not just in its longitude. Here, however, there are several unpleasant nuances at once. nine0003

First, a lot depends on transcription. There are several systems of phonetic transcription. Here we are talking about IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), the most authoritative system in the world and generally accepted in Russia. But even in the IPA, for the time being, both long and short English "and" - more precisely, their basis - were denoted by the same symbol.

Secondly, the degree of this qualitative difference itself varies greatly for different vowel pairs. For example, if the long "a" in "cart" is radically different from both "cut" and "cat" and "cot", then the difference between "pool" and "pull" is not so pronounced. nine0003

Thirdly, regional accents further confuse the situation (and there are hundreds of them in England alone). The Scots, for example, distinguish between "pool" and "pull" solely by context, that is, even the length of the sound they have in this pair is the same.

A look through the looking-glass: lax and tense

And now what to do? Look at the problem from the other side, from English! To be fair, the English also sometimes refer to their vowels as long and short. However, in more or less academic sources, vowels are divided not into long-short ones, but into "lax" and "tense", i.e. relaxed and tense. Now we will figure out what in this case relaxes and tenses. nine0003

Keep in mind that if you pronounce long and short vowels correctly, it will be much easier for you to distinguish them by ear. Now, the main reason for the problems and misunderstanding of English vowels is that we think of them as long and short. But how else to think about them, if they are long and short, you ask. “They told us about it at school,” right? Strictly speaking, the duration of "long" vowels can vary widely, so that even the term itself is not entirely accurate. Much worse, however, is that we are trying to artificially lengthen or shorten these vowels. And folk wisdom says: if you have to imitate, then something is wrong. nine0003

Bubbles and colors

We have already noted that the correct position of the tongue often automatically leads to the correct pronunciation. Developing this thought, the length or brevity of the vowel is an effect, not a cause.

So, the first thing to do is to bring the tongue into the correct position. The analogy with a hot potato in your mouth is appropriate, just place the potato not on the tip of the tongue, but closer to the root. Let me remind you that as much as this situation is unusual for us, it is just as natural for the British. That is, the tongue should be relaxed in this position (remembered about "lax"). Now imagine a bubble rising from the bottom of the lake. The sound made by the bursting bubble is as short as possible - bang! - as soon as it touches the surface of the water, the pressure inside the bubble instantly dissipates. Short vowels are pronounced similarly - put, book, cut, bit, etc. To maintain the sound of such a vowel, no additional effort is applied - this is "lax". nine0003

When pronouncing long vowels - on the contrary - air pressure on the ligaments maintains the sound for some time. In this case, at the root of the tongue you will feel a slight tension. These two moments are "tense". Thanks to them, the sound acquires a noticeably more pronounced character than that of short vowels. You can compare this to the color saturation of paints - "tense" colors are bright and saturated, while "lax" colors are closer to shades of gray.

Whoever seeks is always

Working on pronunciation is a search.