Long Vowel Sounds

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If you struggle with spelling – you're not alone. One of the reasons why English spelling is so difficult is because of how inconsistent it is. Vowels – a, e, i, o, and u – are broken up into short and long sounds. To make things more confusing, there are also multiple ways of spelling each short and long vowel sound.

In this post, we will look at the five long vowel sounds and the different ways to spell each one. Please note the pronunciation of some of the example words may vary depending on accent.

Long A Sound
There are six ways of spelling the long a sound

just the letter a, like in acorn, apron, and alien
with the letters a-e, like in snake, game, and elate
with the letters ai, like in train, snail, and wait
with the letters ay, like in Sunday, play, and always
with the letters ei, like in rein, veil, and weight
with the letters ea, like in break, great, and steak

Learn more about the long a sound here.

Long E Sound
There are seven ways of spelling the long e sound

just the letter e, like in evening, become, and delight
with the letters ee, like in peel, breeze, and speech
with the letters ea, like in dream, squeak, and reason
with the letters e-e, like in here, gene, and these
with the letter y, like in happy, cherry, family
with the letters ie, like in field, achieve, and mischief
with the letters ei, like in ceiling, receipt, and receive

Learn more about the long e sound here.

Long I sound
There are six ways of spelling the long i sound

just the letter i, like in item, crisis, and silent
with the letters i-e, like in bribe, reconcile, and shine
with the letters igh, like in thigh, knight, and twilight
with the letters ig, like in resign, design, and align
with the letters y, like in apply, identify, and multiply
with the letters ie, like in pie, applied, and identified

Learn more about the long i sound here.

Long O sound
There are six ways of spelling the long o sound

just the letter o, like in oval, yoga, and gecko
with the letters o-e, like in rose, globe, and envelope
with the letters oa, like in soap, encroach, and toast
with the letters ow, like in snow, meadow, tomorrow
with the letters oe, like in toe, oboe, and aloe
with the letters ough, like in dough, though, and although

Learn more about the long o sound here.

Long U sound
There are four ways of spelling the long u sound

just the letter u, like in unicorn, future, and human
with the letters u-e, like in tube, capsule, and fortune
with the letters ue, like in queue, issue, and value
with the letters ew, like in nephew, stew, and view

Learn more about the long u sound here.

Have a good week!

28 Jan 2019
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Long Vowel Sounds

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