English Vowel Sounds

Sound
/i/	leak		keen	peat	beet	bee
/I/	lick	lit	kin	pit	bit
/ey/	lake	late	cane		bait	bay
/e/		let	Ken	pet	bet
"ae"	lack		can	pat	bet	baa
"ah"	lock		con	pot	bought
"uh"	luck			putt	but
"oo"	look			put
/u/	Luke	lute	coon		boot	boo
"er"	lurk		Kern	pert	Bert	burr
/o/			cone		boat	Bo
/ai/	like		kine		bite	by
/au/		lout		pout	bout	bough
/oi/			coin			boy

Some Generalizations (Not Rules) about English vowels and spelling

English vowels have ?long? and ?short? forms.

The long form is the ?name? of the letter: The short form is as follows:

A E I O U /ey/ /i/ /ai/ /o/ or /ou/ /u/ or /yu/

a e i o u "ae" /e/ /I/ "ah" "uh"

Long vowels are usually (but not always) indicated by a second (silent) vowel in the same syllable:

sheep

bait

heat

loaf

like

mice

tune

peace

juice

hoe

leave

jay

slow

pony

(Sometimes ?y? and ?w? can function as a second vowel.)

Short vowels usually stand alone within a syllable and are often followed by ?double? consonants:

ran

jet

cup

doll

kiss

tick

lamb

witch

fast

hint

punch

Note the difference:

hope hop

hoped hopped

hoping hopping

tiny/tinny

Notable exceptions:

head light read

give sign live

gone find lead

(sound is ?short? despite silent second vowel) (sound is ?long? despite no silent second vowel) (two pronunciations: long or short)