Long and Short English Vowels

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• Long vowels

• Examples comparing long and short vowels (and showing the effect of the silent 'e')

• Other Vowel sounds (including those affected by a following 'r')

• New course on vowel sounds & spellings.

Short Vowels

 The most common sound for each vowel is its “short” sound:

•  ă, pronounced /æ/ as in apple, pan, or mat,

•  ĕ, pronounced /ɛ/ as in elephant, pen, or met,

•  ĭ, pronounced /ɪ/ as in insect, pin, or mitt,

•  ŏ, pronounced /ɒ/ as in octopus, ostrich, upon, or motto,

•  and ŭ, pronounced /ʌ/ as in umbrella, pun, or mutt.

(The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for each sound is inside the backslashes://. You do not need to understand the IPA symbols; just look for an example word you know how to pronounce. For those who want more, this Wikipedia article gives a fairly simple demonstration of the IPA as used in English, with links to more detailed information.)

When syllables end in a vowel and then consonant (as in the examples above), the vowel is usually short. If there is more than one consonant, the vowel is almost always short.

This becomes important as a way to keep the same vowel sound when adding -ed to put a verb into the past tense. We often double an ending consonant to keep a short vowel short. For example, the past tense of 'stop' is 'stopped.' Otherwise the silent 'e' rule below (which also applies when followed by 'd') would give it a long 'o' sound like soap or hope. See the Simple Past Tense explanation of spelling changes.

Long Vowels

The alphabet sounds (when the vowel “says its name”) are called “long vowels.”

We call them ‘long’ because we hold them longer than the short sounds, but they are completely different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound.

• Long A (ā ), pronounced /eɪ/ as in ate or mate,

• Long E (ē ), pronounced /iː/ as in eat or meat (or meet or mete-- all pronounced the same),

• Long I (ī), pronounced /aɪ/ as in mite or might,

• Long O (ō), pronounced /oʊ/ as in oats, mote or moat, and

• Long U (ū), pronounced /juː/ in mute.

Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and consonant are followed by an ‘e’, the ‘e’ is almost always silent, but it causes the preceding vowel to be long. (Examples: ate, plane, Pete, bite, nine, rope, note, cube, flute.)

Other Long Vowels: A vowel at the end of a syllable is almost always long. Examples: I, we, he, she, go, try, potato and tomato. (Some English speakers use a short ‘a’ in the 2nd syllable, while others use a long ‘a,’ but both ‘o’s are long for everyone.)

-Igh and -ight are usually long I (and silent GH): bright, fight, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, tight.

Often the first letter of the vowel combinations, especially ‘ai’, ‘ay’, ‘ea’ (sometimes-- see Digraphs, below), ‘ee’, & ‘oa,’ will be long & the second will be silent. (An old rhyme for children says “when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the talking.”) So ’plain’ sounds just like ‘plane,' ‘meat’ and ‘meet’ like ‘mete,’ etc.

However, there are many exceptions. (See the link to English Vowel Digraphs, at the bottom of this page, for the most common ones.)

Common Examples Of Short And Long Vowels

These contrasts demonstrate the rules (in each column, first short, then long):

Other English Vowel Sounds (Schwa or R-Controlled)

Besides the long and short sounds, there are other vowel sounds.

Any vowel in an unaccented syllable has a neutral or“schwa”/ə/ sound: Examples: the ‘a’ in above, or approve, the ‘e’ in accident, camera or mathematics, the ‘i’ in family or officer, the ‘o’ in freedom or purpose, or the ‘u’ in industry or succeed.

if a vowel is followed by R, it changes in quality, and is neither long nor short. (ER, IR, and UR are often -- though not always--the same sound.)

Examples with phonetic symbols:

• /ɑr/ -- arm, car, charge, dark, farm, start

• /ɛər/-- air, aware, bare/bear, hair, spare, tear (pull apart paper or fabric), there, very, where

• /ɪər/-- beer, ear, hear/here, near, tear (from crying)

• /ɜr/ -- bird, burn, first, fur, herd, earth, service, sir, third, thirty, turn, urgent, worse

• /ər/ -- baker, better, bigger, doctor, letter, smaller, summer

• /ɔr/ -- for, important, more, north, or

Sometimes in English a vowel is pronounced with a sound that usually goes with a different letter. For example, in my California dialect, the ‘a’ in ‘father’ or ‘want’ is pronounced very much like the ‘au’ in ‘audio’ or the short ‘o’ in ‘pot’ or ‘hot.’ That’s not true for all English speakers, however.

Also, some common words use ‘o’ for a short ‘u’ sound: of, love, money, other, some, son. (That means some and sum are homonyms: they are pronounced the same. So are son and sun.)

(For the exact pronunciation of any word, consult a good dictionary. Most list the sound symbols they use on one of the front pages.)

See English Vowel Digraphs for recognizing and pronouncing two-letter vowel combinations.

See ESL Phonics for examples of the most common pronunciations of consonants as well as vowels, including 'Y' used as either a vowel or a consonant. (See also Consonant Digraph Sounds for pronouncing combinations of consonants.)

Because English has adopted words (and often some of their sounds), from so many other languages, none of these rules is always true. However, these English vowel rules will help you guess at the pronunciation of words you read. For that reason they may also help you guess their meaning, if you have heard them but not read them before. They should also help make English spelling a little easier.

P.S.  A great way to learn how to pronounce English words and practice listening and reading comprehension at the same time is with podcasts or videos that provide transcripts (so you can read along as you listen.)

Check out Listening and Reading Comprehension Exercises for some at various levels with quizzes to check your understanding afterward. There are many other good sites for this too. One of the easiest for beginners or low intermediate English students is Voice of America (news-- and lots more!).

NEW-- A Course on English Vowel Sounds & Spellings

Are you interested in learning more about the relationship between English vowel sounds and spellings? 

There have been so many positive comments on this page that I’ve decided to design a short course about it. It would help you recognize more of the words you know when you read them, and learn to spell them—as well as understand how to pronounce the words you read.

After the course overview and an introduction that expands a little on this page, the course has a lesson each on the ways A, E, I, O, and U can be pronounced (as well as their digraphs—combinations of two of these letters or combinations with ‘w,’ or ‘y.’) There are two extra lessons: one on 'ou,' 'ough,' and 'ow,' as they have so many different pronunciations, and one on Vowels followed by Rs.)

It costs $12 and will have lots of chances to ask questions, practice, and take quizzes to see if you understand. There's also a 100% refund for the first two weeks if you try the course and are disappointed.

There's a sample ("free trial") lesson on the Ways to Pronounce 'A' (as well as the overview and a pdf of the Introduction) so you can see how the course works.

If there are certain things you especially want to learn about vowel sounds or spelling, you can also leave a comment in the box below, or leave your phone number there and I’ll try to call and help for a few minutes. (I will not share your number with anyone, or keep it after the call is over.)

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Home>  ESL Reading> English Vowels.

ESL Phonics

English consonant sounds are mostly regular-- with some difficult exceptions! ESL Phonics lists the most common sounds for each letter in English, and some tips for which sound is more likely in different contexts. This makes it easier to recognize and pronounce the words you read.

Vowel Digraphs

"Vowel digraphs are letter combinations in which the two vowels together make a single sound." They are very common in English, and recognizing them can improve your reading comprehension, pronunciation, and spelling.