Spelling and Word Study

Long Vowel Patterns#

Vowels are the letters A, E, I, O, and U. Every vowel can make two main sounds: a short sound and a long sound. When a vowel says its own name, it is making a long vowel sound.

Short vs. Long Vowels#

• Short A: apple, cat, hat

• Long A: apron, cake, rain

• Short E: egg, bed, red

• Long E: equal, bee, feet

• Short I: igloo, sit, fin

• Long I: ice, hike, pie

• Short O: octopus, hot, dog

• Long O: open, boat, road

• Short U: umbrella, cup, run

• Long U: unicorn, cube, tune

Common Long Vowel Spelling Patterns#

Long vowel sounds can be spelled in several ways. Here are the most common patterns:

Long A:

• a_e (silent e): cake, lake, name, game
• ai: rain, train, sail, paint
• ay: day, play, way, stay

Long E:

• ee: tree, see, bee, feet
• ea: read, beach, eat, dream

Long I:

• i_e (silent e): kite, ride, time, bike
• igh: night, light, right, fight
• y (at end): fly, sky, cry, dry

Long O:

• o_e (silent e): home, note, rope, code
• oa: coat, boat, road, toad
• ow: snow, grow, blow, flow

Long U:

• u_e (silent e): cube, tune, cute, mule

The Silent E Rule#

One of the most important long vowel rules is the silent e rule (also called the VCe pattern): when a word ends in e, the e is usually silent AND it makes the vowel before it say its long sound.

• mad → made (long A)
• bit → bite (long I)
• hop → hope (long O)

Knowing long vowel patterns helps you spell hundreds of words correctly!