Words with vowels sounds

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.

List of Short Vowel Words

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pig illustration with list of short vowel words examples
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The English language provides a list of short vowel words that seem to be never ending. A short vowel word is any word that doesn't allow the vowel within it to generate that vowel's long vowel sound.

For example, the word "bug" is a short vowel word because there's no long "U" sound. A word doesn't necessarily have to have three letters to be a short vowel word, but it makes for the easiest example and three-lettered words make up the bulk of any list of short vowel words. Let's take a look.

Short Vowel Sounds in Words

Here's the reason why words with only three letters typically make the short vowel sound. Three letters usually don't allow for a second vowel to force the long vowel sound out. Exceptions include words like "bee" or "tea."

These words use a second vowel to force the long vowel sound from the first one, while other words like "ant" or "mat" use the placement of consonants to force a short vowel sound.

But, here's an important point to keep in mind. The words listed below are short vowel sounds, not short vowel spellings. That is, just because a word is short, doesn't mean it will automatically have a short vowel sound. And vowel as written doesn't always correspond with the sound it makes. Take the word "pretty." The E is sounded like a short I, and the Y is sounded like a long E. Phonetically, it sounds more like "prit-tee," not "pret-tai."

Likewise, we can't assume a long word will automatically have a long vowel sound. Let's look at the word "business." The U and E in "business" are also sounded like a short I, and the I is silent altogether. Phonetically speaking, we don't pronounce it "buss-eye-ness." It's more like "biz-niss." With that in mind, let's explore more short vowel words, sorted by letter.

Short "A" Words

The short A sound is what you hear in words like "bat" or "map." Here are some other great examples of words with the short A sound.

act	apt	ask	bat	bad	bag	cat
cap	cab	dad	dab	Dan	fan	fat
fad	gap	gab	gal	gas	ham	has
had	hat	jab	jam	lab	lad	lag
lap	man	mad	mat	map	nap	pan
Pam	pad	pal	ran	ram	rag	rat
Sam	sad	sag	sat	sap	tab	tan
tad	tag	tap	van	vat	yam	zap

Short "E" Words

The short E sound is what you hear in words like "gem" or "hem. " Here are some other great examples of words with the short E sound.

ben	bed	beg	bet	den	fed
gem	get	gel	hen	hem	jet
keg	led	leg	let	men	met
net	pen	peg	pet	red	set
ten	Ted	vet	yet	wed	wet

Short "I" Words

The short I sound is what you hear in words like "dim" or "fib. " Here are some other great examples of words with the short I sound.

bin	bid	big	bit	dim	did
dig	dip	fin	fig	fit	gin
gig	him	his	hid	hit	hip
jib	jig	kin	kid	kit	lid
lit	lip	nip	pin	pig	pit
rim	rid	rig	rip	sin	sit
sip	tin	tip	win	wit	zip

Short "O" Words

The short O sound is what you hear in words like "con" or "nod. " Here are some other great examples of words with the short O sound.

bog	bop	con	cod	cog	cot
cop	don	dog	dot	fog	god
got	hog	hot	jog	jot	lob
log	lot	lop	mob	mom	mop
nod	not	odd	pod	pop	pot
rod	rot	sod	Tom	tot	top

Short "U" Words

The short U sound is what you hear in words like "bus" or "hum. " Here are some other great examples of words with the short U sound.

bun	bum	bus	bud	bug	but
cud	cut	cup	dug	fun	gun
gum	Gus	gut	hum	hug	hut
jug	jut	lug	mug	nun	nut
pun	pug	pup	rub	run	rum
rug	rut	sub	sun	sum	tug

List of Short Vowel Words Printable

Click to View & Download

Using Short Vowel Sounds

Though the above list of words with short vowels is incomplete, you can use it to understand the basic usage for the short vowel sounds. These short vowel sounds are often used in larger words as well. You might see them in words that also contain long vowel sounds, or even in two-lettered words, like "in," "it," and "at." Longer words, such as "magistrate" or "fascinate," use both short long vowel sounds.

Some words use the short vowel sound and the long vowel sound, depending on the tense of the word. Words like "read," for example, are pronounced as the long vowel sound when the tense is present. For example, "We are reading this list of short vowel words."

However, when the tense is changed from present to past tense, the long vowel sound is taken away and the short vowel sound is introduced in the same word. For example, "I read the list of short vowel words, and understand much better now."

Pronunciation Pros

If you're teaching short vowel sounds to little learners, practice makes perfect. If you're teaching ESL students, here are some tips and resources for teaching ESL pronunciation. And, when you're ready for the flip side of the coin? Take a look at these examples of long vowel words too. You might also want to explore when "y" is a vowel.

Vowels and vowel sounds of the Russian language - scheme, table

Contents:
• Vowels and sounds
• Stressed and unstressed
• Iotated

In Russian there are 10 vowels, 6 vowels. Vowels: a, and, e, e, o, u, s, e, u, i. Vowel sounds: [a], [o], [y], [e], [i], [s]. In the school curriculum, vowel sounds are indicated in the diagrams in red. In elementary grades, they explain: vowels are called so because they “voice”, they are pronounced “voiced”, while consonants got such a name because they “agree” with vowels.

Scheme 1. Vowels and vowel sounds of the Russian language.

Stressed and unstressed vowels

Vowel sounds are:

stressed: juice [o] - ice ['o], forest ['e] - mayor [e], drill [u] - hatch ['u],
unstressed: in o yes [a], from y dak [y], l e juice [i].

It is correct to say "stressed syllable" and "unstressed syllable". Instead of "stress falls on a vowel" say "stress falls on a syllable with a vowel." However, in the literature there are formulations "stressed vowel" and "unstressed vowel".

Stressed vowels are in a strong position, they are pronounced with more force and intonation. Unstressed vowels are in a weak position, they are pronounced with less force and may be subject to change.

The designation of the letter e in a weak position differs in different school programs. Above we showed the sound [and], in other school programs the designation [e] is found, in the institute program - [e ^and] (e with an overtone and).

Scheme 2. Division of vowels into stressed and unstressed.

In Russian there are compound words with primary and secondary stress. In them, with a strong intonation, we highlight the main stress, with a weak intonation - a secondary one. For example, in the word foam blocks, the main stress falls on the syllable with the letter o, the secondary stress on the syllable with the letter e. In phonetic analysis, the vowel with the main stress is stressed, the vowel with the secondary stress is unstressed. For example: tricuspid, three-year-old.

Iotated vowels

The letters i, u, e, ё are called iotated and mean two sounds in the following positions of the word:

at the beginning of the word: tree [y'olka], Yana [y'ana], raccoon [y'inot];
after a vowel: hare [zay'its], button accordion [bay'an];
after ь or ъ: streams [ruch'y'i], rise [fall'om].

For ё and stressed vowels i, yu, e, a replacement is made: i → [y’a], yu → [y’u], e → [y’e], yo → [y’o]. For unstressed vowels, a replacement is used: i → [y'i], e → [y'i]. In some school programs, when compiling a transcription of a word and during phonetic analysis, they write Latin j instead of th.

Scheme 3. Rules for iotated vowels.

In other cases, i, u, e, ё mean the softness of the consonant sound in front of them, and create one sound: i → [a], yu → [y], e → [e] or [i], ё → [ O].
To be able to do phonetic analysis, in addition to vowels, you need to know consonants and the rules of phonetics.

Words with the letter ё must be written through ё. Phonetic parsing of the words "everything" and "everything" will be different!

Vowel sounds and letters. How many are there in Russian?

We will teach you how to write without mistakes and tell stories in an interesting way

Start learning

The correct pronunciation of words is one of the components of a beautiful and literate speech. To achieve this, you will first have to study the sounds themselves. In this article, we will figure out together what vowel sounds are, how many vowels are in the alphabet of the Russian language, and what sounds they can represent.

What are vowels and sounds

Vowel sounds are those sounds that we freely convey with our voice. This is where their name comes from:0067 voice means "voice". When pronouncing, air exits through the mouth and does not create noise, and the position of the tongue and lips determines which vowel sound we will pronounce.

There are much fewer vowels in Russian than consonants. There are 6 of them in total: [a], [o], [i], [s], [y] and [e]. To understand whether a vowel sound is in front of you or not, try to sing it. For example:

a-a-a ,
woo
s-s-s .

If it works, then the sound is a vowel. You can't do that with consonants.

There are more vowels than sounds - there are 10 of them: a, i, u, u, o, e, e, e, i, s . This difference is due to the fact that some of these letters can represent two sounds and are pronounced using a combination of a vowel and a consonant [y']. For example, in the word spruce , the letter e expresses two sounds - [y'] and [e]. Let's look at the table all the vowel sounds and the letters that represent them.

Letter	Sound	Example
a	[a]	pharmacy
i	[a] [d'] + [a]	change anchor
y	[y]	moon
	[y] [d'] + [y]	love skirt
about	[o] [a]	horse milk
e	[e] [y'] + [e] [and]	victory raccoon great
e	[o] [d'] + [o]	rope hedgehog
e	[e]	evolution
and	[and] [s]	caviar life
s	[s]	choice

Five in Russian in your pocket!

All the rules of the Russian language at your fingertips

How vowel sounds are related to syllables

Vowel sounds form syllables - sound segments of words that we pronounce with one breath. One syllable can be either a vowel with one or more consonants, or a vowel alone. There is even a rule by which syllables can be counted: how many vowels in a word - so many syllables.

For example, in the word journey there are 5 vowels: [u], [i], [e], [i] and [e]. This means that it has 5 syllables: p-te-she-stvi-e .

Test yourself!

Count the number of syllables in the words: try on, tanner, well-groomed, care, prefix, capital, wet, invitation, orange .

Vowel sounds and stress

Now let's see what groups vowel sounds are divided into. Sometimes their pronunciation depends on whether the stress falls on them, that is, whether we single them out with our voice. So vowel sounds are divided into stressed and unstressed. Here are some examples:

Sound	Impact position	Unstressed position
[and]	large	prize money
[a]	chess	spruce
[y]	frog	empty

Stress in Russian can fall on any of the existing vowel sounds. However, only 4 of them can be unstressed - these are [a], [i], [y] and [s]. In this position, we pronounce sounds weaker than under stress, because of which they can change qualities and sound differently.

Interestingly, the vowels [o] and [e] can only be stressed. There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule: for example, in words cocoa and canoe sounds [o] and [e] in an unstressed position.

How unstressed vowels are related to consonants

How an unstressed vowel sounds depends on the consonant that precedes it. Or rather, from its hardness or softness. If it is a hard consonant, it can be followed by unstressed vowels [y], [a] and [s]. When we talk about a soft consonant, it is followed by unstressed vowels [y] and [and].

After a hard consonant	After a soft consonant
[live]	p[r'i]kaz
[va]yes	[s'u] yes
[woo]lcan	[v'i]trina

Test yourself

It's time to find out if you now understand well what vowel sounds are in Russian. To do this, we have prepared tasks for self-examination.

Task 1

List all the vowels in these words:

squeal,
fair,
rejoice,
doll,
distant,
buddy,
voting,
mirror,
story,
OK,
captivate.

Task 2

Name 5 words each in which the sounds [a], [i], [y] and [s] would be stressed.

Task 3

Name 5 words in which an unstressed vowel would come after a hard consonant, and 5 more words where it would follow a soft consonant.

Task 4

Count the number of syllables in the words below (don't forget to use the rule you learned at the beginning of the article!):

act	apt	ask	bat	bad	bag	cat
cap	cab	dad	dab	Dan	fan	fat
fad	gap	gab	gal	gas	ham	has
had	hat	jab	jam	lab	lad	lag
lap	man	mad	mat	map	nap	pan
Pam	pad	pal	ran	ram	rag	rat
Sam	sad	sag	sat	sap	tab	tan
tad	tag	tap	van	vat	yam	zap

ben	bed	beg	bet	den	fed
gem	get	gel	hen	hem	jet
keg	led	leg	let	men	met
net	pen	peg	pet	red	set
ten	Ted	vet	yet	wed	wet

bin	bid	big	bit	dim	did
dig	dip	fin	fig	fit	gin
gig	him	his	hid	hit	hip
jib	jig	kin	kid	kit	lid
lit	lip	nip	pin	pig	pit
rim	rid	rig	rip	sin	sit
sip	tin	tip	win	wit	zip

bog	bop	con	cod	cog	cot
cop	don	dog	dot	fog	god
got	hog	hot	jog	jot	lob
log	lot	lop	mob	mom	mop
nod	not	odd	pod	pop	pot
rod	rot	sod	Tom	tot	top

bun	bum	bus	bud	bug	but
cud	cut	cup	dug	fun	gun
gum	Gus	gut	hum	hug	hut
jug	jut	lug	mug	nun	nut
pun	pug	pup	rub	run	rum
rug	rut	sub	sun	sum	tug

act	apt	ask	bat	bad	bag	cat
cap	cab	dad	dab	Dan	fan	fat
fad	gap	gab	gal	gas	ham	has
had	hat	jab	jam	lab	lad	lag
lap	man	mad	mat	map	nap	pan
Pam	pad	pal	ran	ram	rag	rat
Sam	sad	sag	sat	sap	tab	tan
tad	tag	tap	van	vat	yam	zap

ben	bed	beg	bet	den	fed
gem	get	gel	hen	hem	jet
keg	led	leg	let	men	met
net	pen	peg	pet	red	set
ten	Ted	vet	yet	wed	wet

bin	bid	big	bit	dim	did
dig	dip	fin	fig	fit	gin
gig	him	his	hid	hit	hip
jib	jig	kin	kid	kit	lid
lit	lip	nip	pin	pig	pit
rim	rid	rig	rip	sin	sit
sip	tin	tip	win	wit	zip

bog	bop	con	cod	cog	cot
cop	don	dog	dot	fog	god
got	hog	hot	jog	jot	lob
log	lot	lop	mob	mom	mop
nod	not	odd	pod	pop	pot
rod	rot	sod	Tom	tot	top

bun	bum	bus	bud	bug	but
cud	cut	cup	dug	fun	gun
gum	Gus	gut	hum	hug	hut
jug	jut	lug	mug	nun	nut
pun	pug	pup	rub	run	rum
rug	rut	sub	sun	sum	tug