A vowel is a sound we make with our mouth and vocal cords open, without touching our tongue to any other part of our mouth. In vowel sounds the air flows freely through our mouth (differently from consonants, in which we block the air with our tongue, lips, or teeth).
Vowels in English are represented by the letters A, E, I, O, and U. The letter Y is considered a “semivowel” because sometimes it represents a vowel sound, and sometimes it represents a consonant sound.
English vowels can be divided into two types: long vowels and short vowels. The difference between them is in the duration of their pronunciation. Long vowels are pronounced with an extended sound, while short vowels have a quicker sound.
Long vowel words
Let’s look at examples of words with each long vowel sound. You can practice your pronunciation of these long vowels by repeating after me.
Words with a long “A” sound
- name
- cake
- made
- late
- tape
- paper
- baby
- lady
- favor
- agent
- amazing
- radiant
- vacation
- behavior
- patiently
Words with a long “E” sound
- bee
- see
- key
- tree
- deep
- legal
- secret
- fever
- believe
- repeat
- completely
- proceeding
Words with a long “I” sound
- time
- wine
- ride
- bike
- ice
- tiger
- silent
- arrive
- entire
- provide
- denial
- reliant
- surviving
Words with a long “O” sound
- rope
- bone
- note
- home
- woke
- total
- open
- focus
- broken
- remote
- global
- emotion
Words with a long “U” sound
- cute
- use
- June
- rule
- clue
- student
- human
- refuse
- computer
- suitable
- consumer
Short vowel words
Now let’s try pronouncing words with short vowel sounds – listen and repeat after me!
Words with a short “A” sound
- bag
- cat
- hat
- map
- black
- apple
- basket
- traffic
- average
- habit
- rapidly
- talented
Words with a short “E” sound
- bed
- set
- pen
- mess
- wet
- lesson
- present
- never
- better
- special
- remember
- elephant
Words with a short “I” sound
- hit
- lip
- pig
- win
- miss
- dinner
- ticket
- sister
- window
- picture
- visitor
- chicken
Words with a short “O” sound
- job
- box
- hot
- lock
- fog
- doctor
- option
- problem
- bottom
- solid
- modern
- octopus
Words with a short “U” sound
- cup
- rug
- sun
- bus
- nut
- button
- public
- summer
- tunnel
- muddy
- umbrella
Spelling of long and short vowels
Keep in mind that there are different ways of spelling these long and short vowel sounds!
Some of them are pretty consistent – for example, the short “a” sound is always represented by the letter “a.”
However, the long “e” sound can be spelled:
- ea as in “clean”
- ee as in “see“
- ei as in “receive”
- e as in theme
The long “o” sound can be spelled:
- o as in “phone”
- ou as in “soul”
- ow as in “own”
- oa as in “cloak”
This is why I always recommend checking the pronunciation of words in an online dictionary that includes audio.
