05 Feb
American English Vowels – 5 Letters, yet 10+ sounds
English has a lot of vowels, often more than many other languages. And the English vowel system can be somewhat confusing because spelling doesn’t always correspond exactly to pronunciation. In addition, there are often multiple spellings for the same sound. But, contrary to what you may believe, spelling is helpful in allowing you to guess how to say the majority of words.
There are a few different ways we might categorize vowels. One of these ways is to divide the sounds into “long” vowels and “short” vowels. In this classification system, each vowel letter has 2 distinct sounds associated with it: a long sound and a short one.
Long Sound | Short Sound | |
A | bait | bat |
E | beet | bet |
I | bite | bit |
O | boat | bot |
U | butte | but |
Listen to these words here:
Long and Short Vowel Spelling
You can use spelling to predict vowel pronunciation in most cases. There’s an easy way to remember which vowels are long and which are short based on their spelling.
Short vowels are generally spelled with one vowel letter in a syllable, while long vowels are spelled with 2 vowel letters within a syllable.
Let me show you what I mean with some very simple words:
Short Sound | Long Sound | Short sound | Long Sound | |
A | at | ate | ran | rain |
E | men | mean | set | seat |
I | win | wine | sit | site |
O | not | note | rod | road |
U | cut | cute | hug | huge |
Listen to these words here:
Now, that you’re able to identify short vs. long vowels in writing, let me give you a general idea of the difference in their pronunciation.
Long Vowels
Long vowels sound like the name of their alphabet letter.
A long “A” is pronounced “AY”, a long “E” is pronounced “EE”, and so on. You probably have several of these long vowels in your native language. But they are likely a little different than the English version. And don’t forget, I’m talking about Standard American English pronunciation. Other varieties of English pronounce some of these vowels differently, and that includes different dialects of American English too.
There are a couple of things that make our American English long vowels different from the vowels in your native language. Our sound is likely more tense and is either a blend of 2 different vowel sounds or seems to repeat the same sound twice. They are not single vowel sounds like they may be in your language.
Let’s look at the long “A”. If you slow it down, you notice that it’s actually made up of 2 different vowel sounds blended together. First, we start with an “EH” sound and then finish with an “EE” sound. Your mouth moves from one to the other within the sound. This blend of 2 vowel sounds is called a diphthong.
Because of this, you’ll find that our “AY” sound is likely longer than yours and has glides between the 2 sounds. In addition, each of the 2 parts of the long vowel is said on a different musical note.
Our long vowels are also tense, meaning that you will need to use the muscles of your mouth, face, and tongue more. Look in a mirror as you say the long vowels. You should be able to see the tension as you say the sound.
📝Here are some common words that have a long “A”:
🔹change 🔹game 🔹late 🔹train 🔹wait
🔹detail 🔹play 🔹stay 🔹today 🔹maybe
And the long “A” keyword from the introduction is “bait”.
📢Listen to these words here:
Let’s look at the remaining long vowels and see how they all have similar characteristics.
Long “E” is pronounced “EEEE”. Make sure you stretch it out and hold your muscles tight. Your mouth is tense. Your tongue is also tense. Stretch out the sound – it almost sounds like you’re saying “E” two times, yet with a different tone.
📝Here are some common words that have a long “E”:
🔹clean 🔹easy 🔹reason 🔹free 🔹sleep
🔹weekend 🔹fifteen 🔹completely 🔹 evening
And the long “E” keyword from the introduction is “beet”.
📢Listen to these words here:
Long “I” is a blend of “AH” and “EE”, so this one is also a diphthong or a blend of 2 distinct sounds. Like all long vowels, it’s tense.
📝Here are some common words with long “I”:
🔹drive 🔹mile 🔹price
🔹decide 🔹pie 🔹dried
And the long “I” keyword is “bite”.
📢Listen to these words here:
The long “O” is also a diphthong or blend of 2 vowel sounds. In American English, it glides between an “O” and a “U” sound.
📝Here are some common words with long O:
🔹home 🔹note 🔹phone 🔹coach
🔹goal 🔹soap 🔹toe
And the long “O” keyword is “boat”.
📢Listen to these words here:
The Long “U” also stretches and glides. It starts with a “Y” sound and almost sounds like we say the “OO” sound twice. YOU OO.
📝Here are some common words with long “U”:
🔹use 🔹volume 🔹contribute 🔹schedule
🔹argue 🔹value 🔹continue
And the long “U” keyword is “butte”. If you’re not familiar with this word, it rhymes with “cute”.
📢Listen to these words here:
Long Vowel Inventory
Which of the long vowels do you have and not have in your language? It’s a good idea to take note of this. You’ll need to spend extra time learning the sounds that you do not have in your native language or the previous languages you’ve learned.
Short Vowels
Now, let’s look at the short vowels. Most languages don’t have all of our short vowels, so there are probably some vowel sounds here that are new to you and that you will need to spend some time learning and practicing. There is one short vowel for each letter of the alphabet. The American English short vowels are: “A” as in “cat”, “E” as in “bed”, “I” as in “sit”, “O” as in “job”, “U” as in “sun”.
📢Listen to these words here:
Short vowels are usually spelled with only one vowel letter in a syllable. A short “A” is spelled with a single A, a short “E” with a single E, and so on.
To correctly pronounce short vowels, there’s one main thing to remember. Short vowels are relaxed. Release the tension in your mouth and tongue to pronounce them. They include only a single sound and in comparison to long vowels are more simple, sounding relatively flat and less melodic.
Let’s look at the short “A”. This is probably a sound you don’t have in your native language. To pronounce it, first, your tongue needs to touch the inside of your bottom front teeth. Open your mouth completely as far down as you can, but also open it sideways like in a big smile.
📝Here are some common words that have a short “A”:
🔹class 🔹tax 🔹family 🔹travel
And the short “A” keyword from the introduction is “bat”.
📢Listen to these words here:
The short “E” like the short “A” is a front vowel. So place your tongue on the inside of your bottom front teeth. Your mouth is just a little less open for this sound as compared to the short “A”, and it only opens downward, NOT sideways like it does for the short “A”. Remember that all the short vowels are relaxed sounds. Make sure to relax all the muscles in your mouth, face, and tongue. Compare the similar words “men” and “man”. Are you able to say them differently now?
📢Listen to “men” and “man” here:
📝Here are some common words that have a short “E”:
🔹tell 🔹help 🔹extra 🔹enjoy 🔹special
And the short “E” keyword is “bet”.
📢Listen to these words here:
The short “I” is also a front vowel, so press your tongue lightly against the inside of your bottom front teeth, and don’t forget to relax everything. Your mouth is just a little open for this vowel, much less open than for the short “A” or “E”. Now, compare these 3: tin, ten, tan.
📢Listen to “tin” “ten” and “tan” here:
The short “I” is one of our most common vowel sounds, and you probably do not have it in your language. As it’s in so many words, I encourage you to spend some time learning how to correctly pronounce it.
📝Here are some common words that have a short “I”:
🔹kid 🔹ring 🔹city 🔹dinner
🔹little 🔹million 🔹minute 🔹visit
And the short “I” keyword is “bit”.
📢Listen to these words here:
The short “O” is a central vowel, so your tongue stays in a neutral position, neither pushed forward nor pulled back. And open your mouth as big as possible. The good news is that you probably have this sound in your language, so you should have no problem pronouncing it. The trick, however, is recognizing it, since many other languages spell this sound with the letter A.
📝Here are some common words that have a short “O”:
🔹clock 🔹college 🔹doctor
🔹dollar 🔹shopping 🔹holiday
And the short “O” keyword is “bot”.
📢 Listen to these words here:
And finally, we have the short “U”. Like the short “O”, the short “U” is a central vowel. Keep your tongue in a neutral position. Your mouth will only be half open for this sound, as compared to the short “O”, where it’s completely open. Compare the pronunciation of the short “O” and short “U” in these words: not, nut. Here’s another pair of Short “O” & Short “U” words: box, bucks.
📢Listen to “box” and “bucks” here:
📝Here are some common words that have a short “U”:
🔹bus 🔹run 🔹funny 🔹hundred 🔹husband 🔹number 🔹suggest
And the short “U” keyword is “but”.
📢Listen to these words here:
Short Vowel Inventory
Again, think about which of the short vowels you’re missing in your native language, so you can learn the ones you’re missing in your speech.
I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding English vowel sounds. I suggest watching my YouTube video on Short and Long Vowels now, so you can see and hear each one in context.
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