When A, E, I, O, U, Y Say Their Long Vowel Sounds

Key for sounds and symbols

Literacy Essentials Key to standardize how sounds are represented and read in this text: 

A phonogram []; letters in brackets are read as the phonogram with all sounds and text needed to distinguish it from another.

A single sound is represented by letters within forward slashes, /sh/, /oy/, /t/, /k/. Lowercase vowel letters, /a/, represent the first sound of the phonogram (short sound)and capital vowel letters, /A/, represent the second sound of the phonogram (its name). [/oo/ first sound of [oo], /OO/ second sound of [oo].]

What is a long vowel sound?

It is important to understand terminology while learning about sound. Teachers use the phrases “long vowel” and “short vowel,” whereas linguists use the phrases “tense vowels” and “lax vowels,” respectively. They are referred to as tense vowels because the muscles in your tongue are tense when you say them. Say “A” and feel the tension in your tongue. Now say /a/ as in “apple” and feel how relaxed your tongue is by comparison. Linguists also use a third category of vowels — diphthongs.

Diphthongs are a single vowel sound in which the mouth position shifts while speaking. For example, /oy/ in “boy.” When you say /oy/ your lips begin rounded and end in a relaxed smile (much like when you say /E/. The result is sometimes you almost hear two vowel sounds. Young spellers will often hear this shift and write something like “boe”because what they hear is /b/ /O/ /E/, but they have not been taught that /oy/ is a single vowel sound represented by [oy] or [oi].

Just a reminder, every English syllable must have a vowel — but only one. /oy/ is not two vowel sounds, because when you say /oy/, your jaw drops one time. Place your hand beneath your jaw and say, “boy.” It drops one time, so it is one syllable, containing one vowel sound. Whereas, if you say /O/ + /E/ your jaw drops for each of those sounds. In a diphthong, it glides between them.

Since most phonics programs do not explicitly explain this third category called diphthongs, teachers will most often categorize some of the diphthongs as “long vowels” instead (such as /A/ and /I/). Within the context of understanding pronunciation, diphthongs are helpful. However, within the context of spelling, I will address these sounds as “long sounds” or vowels that are “saying their name.”

Vowel Valley

There are approximately 15 English vowel sounds (there is some discrepancy due to differences in pronunciation across the world, but most linguists land on 15 as being a standard count).

It can be helpful to say the vowel sounds and notice how your mouth feels and where your lips, tongue, and jaw are while vocalizing them. Often times when young spellers write the incorrect vowel, it’s because the two sounds are near each other in the “vowel valley” shown below. This makes it all the more important to help them distinguish the differences in how these vowels feel in their mouth when they say them.

What are the 6 long vowel sounds?

/A/ as in tape.

/E/ as in me.

/O/ as in mope.

/U/ as in cube.

/oo/ as in tube.

/I/ as in bite or thyme.

Spelling Patterns for the 6 long vowel sounds

The Multiple Sounds of A, E, I, Y, O, U

[a] has 3 sounds: /a/ /A/ /aw/ as in hat, hate, and tall.

[e] has 2 sound: /e/ /E/ as in net and me.

[i] has 3 sounds: /i/ /I/ /E/ as in hit, kite, and spaghetti.

[y] has 3 vowel sounds: /i/ /I/ /E/ as in gym, rhyme, and ready.

[o] has 3 sounds: /o/ /O/ /oo/ as in top, mope, and to.

[u] has 4 sounds: /u/ [/U/ /oo/] /OO/ as in cub, cube, tube, and push.

The difficulty for young readers is that since the single letters vowels all have multiple vowel sounds, they must learn the rules to know which sound the vowel is saying. If the single letters vowel is in a closed syllable, it will say its first sound, or “short sound.” There are 3 ways a single vowel will say its name, or its “long sound.”

For more detail on syllable types, see How to Break Down Words: the 6 Types of Syllables.

The 3 Ways a Single Vowel Says its Name

Silent Final E Job 1

Silent Final E has 6 jobs in total, but its first job is to make the vowel say its name. This is its most common job.

Open Syllables

Open syllables are syllables in which the last phonogram is a single letter vowel — therefore, your mouth stays open, because vowels are open sounds. There are three helpful rules to know about open syllables:

1. Consistent Rule: A, E, O, U usually say /A/, /E/, /O/, /U/ or /oo/ at the end of a syllable.
2. Less Consistent: I and Y usually say /E/ or /I/ at the end of a syllable, but may say /i/.
3. English words do not end with I, so Y stands in for I.

I and O followed by 2 Consonants

This is the least common way for a single vowel to say its name. It also is less consistent (note “may say”) and only applies to I and O.

Rule: I and O may say /I/ and /O/ when followed by two consonants.

Tips for Teaching

Students should begin (even in kindergarten) by learning all the sounds of each phonogram. For example, when introduced to [a], students should be taught all three sounds (/a/, /A/, /aw/). However, since students should begin spelling and reading with closed syllables, they will only be exposed to words in which [a] is saying its first sound, /a/. Once this is mastered, students should then be exposed to VCe syllables and open syllables (in which students will now practice spelling and reading words where [a] is saying its second sound (its long sound), /A/.

For the ultimate resource for learning these spelling rules, I highly recommend the Literacy Essentials Orthography Notebook. I’ve taught with it for 8 years now, and it makes a huge difference for children and adults in learning orthography. My Morphology Notebook also has an orthography index to review these spelling rules before diving into morphology and etymology.