Short & Long English Vowels

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 /ɑ/ as in octopus, ostrich, upon, or motto,

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

We call these vowel sounds "short," but they are not all spoken more quickly than the "long" sounds. However, it's important to learn to pronounce these five sounds, because each is the most common sound for its letter. The main rules for when to use them and when to use "long" vowel sounds apply to all five of them.

When syllables end in a vowel and then consonant (as in the examples above), the vowel is usually short. If the vowel is followed by more than one consonant, it 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 'ed') 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 most of them slightly longer than the short sounds. 

However, they are completely different sounds-- not a longer version of the same sound.

• Long A (ā), pronounced /eɪ/ as in late 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/ as in mute or /uː/ as in blue.

Rules for When Vowels Will (Probably) Be Long

The short sound of each vowel letter is more common. When in doubt, use the short sound, unless one of the following rules applies. The silent E rule is especially useful. There are a few exceptions (given below), but it applies to thousands of words. You cansee examples of how it and these other rule

Silent ‘E’ Rule: When a vowel and single consonant are followed by an ‘e’ (in the same syllable), 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.)

There are just a few exceptions, most involving a 've' or an 'ne': above, dove (the bird), give, have, live (the verb), love, move, prove, solve, etc. A few others: are, come, done, gone, none, and one, as well as the 'I' in office.

Those words are common, but many more words ending -ve, -one, & -ice are long: cove, dive, dove (the past tense), drive, drove, five, gave, grove, hive, knives, live (the adjective), pave, revive, save, stove, strive, survive, thrive; alone, bone, cone, phone, stone, tone; & advice, dice, ice, nice, price, rice, etc.

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 exactly 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.)

Listen to Some Words with Short & Long Vowels 

Here's a demonstration of words mentioned above-- & more.

Common Examples: Short and Long Vowels

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

Other English Vowel Sounds 

Besides the long and short sounds, there are other sounds English vowels can make.

Many vowels in unaccented syllables have 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.

In the U.S., this is very close to the short 'U' sound. I can't hear the difference, except that the vowels are often harder to hear at all in unaccented syllables.

Vowel Digraphs

Two vowels written together (digraphs) may be a diphthong, combining the two sounds, (like the oi/oy in boy, point, or ointment).

They may instead be pronounced in various other ways, depending on the combination.

Some (like ai or ay, ea, ee, or oa), use the long (or in a few cases the short) sounds above.

Others (au/aw, oo, and ou or ow) may use these sounds or others. See Vowel Digraphs for a full explanation. 

R-Controlled Vowels

if a vowel comes before 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/ -- curt, discern, first, fern, herd, hurt, earth, mirth, service, slur, whirl, worry, worth

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

• /ɔr/ -- course, for (or four), important, more, north, or, source, war (or wore), your (or you're)

Exceptions, Dialects, & Help

Quite a few common words spelled with ‘O’ are pronounced with a short ‘U’ sound: of, love, money, other, some, son. (That means some and sum are homophones: they sound the same. So are son and sun.) See the course below for more examples and practice.

Different English dialects pronounce certain vowels differently than the general rules given above.  For example, in  California and much of the U.S., the ‘a’ in ‘father’ or ‘want’ sounds like the ‘au’ in ‘audio’ or the short ‘o’ in ‘pot’ or ‘hot.’ In many other places that’s not true.

Ate, the past tense of eat, is pronounced with a long 'a' (/eɪ/) in North America, but more often as 'et' (with a short 'e') in British English. 

Another example: the /ɜr/ in bird, burn, earth, etc. is generally pronounced /ər/ in the U.S. and some other areas. 

Don't worry about these differences. English speakers can almost always understand people speaking other dialects of English. If you live in any area for a while, you'll be able to adjust to them-- and most are not very different.

For the exact pronunciation of any English vowels, consult a good dictionary. Most list the sound symbols they use on one of the front pages. Good online dictionaries like the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary will let you listen to the pronunciation. (This dictionary gives both British and American pronunciations of each word.)

If there are certain things you especially want to learn about vowel sounds or spelling, you can also leave a comment or question in the box below.

You Might Also Like:

ESL Phonics lists the basic sounds of each letter, with examples.

Learn the different sounds consonant digraphs can make.

They all can help you pronounce what you read-- or spell what you can say.

English spellings and pronunciations are complicated-- almost crazy! It helps to have a good sense of humor and not worry too much about them. Learn them when you have a chance. If you need to know a pronunciation, check a dictionary! That's the one really safe rule.

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ESL Phonics gives the basic sounds of each letter. as well as linking to pages with in-depth explanations of vowel sounds and of vowel and consonant digraphs.