English Vowel Sounds

A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [ht], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any
['eni].

( : hat [ht], hate [heit], all [o:l],

art [a:rt], any ['eni].)

The same vowel sound is often represented by different vowel letters in writing: [ei] they, weigh,
may, cake, steak, rain.

( : [ei]
they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.)

Open and closed syllables

( )

Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].

Closed syllable: cat [kt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound []).

Vowels and vowel combinations

The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R, W represent
different vowel sounds. The chart below lists the vowel sounds according to the American
variant of pronunciation.

( A, E, I, O, U, Y , R, W
.
.)
Sounds Letters Examples Notes

been [i];
e, ee be, eve, see, meet, sleep,
bread, deaf [e];
[i:] ea meal, read, leave, sea, team,
great, break [ei];
ie, ei field, believe, receive
friend [e]

i it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, machine, ski,

[i]
y system, busy, pity, sunny liter, pizza [i:]

e let, tell, press, send, end, meter [i:]

[e]
ea bread, dead, weather, leather sea, mean [i:]

a late, make, race, able, stable,

ai, ay aim, wait, play, say, day,

[ei] said, says [e];
ei, ey eight, weight, they, hey,
height, eye [ai]
ea break, great, steak

cat, apple, land, travel, mad;

[] a
AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half

army, car, party, garden, park, war, warm [o:]

ar
[a:] father, calm, palm, drama;
a
BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half

[ai]
i, ie ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die,
 y, uy my, style, apply, buy, guy

ou out, about, house, mouse, group, soup [u:]

[au]
ow now, brown, cow, owl, powder know, own [ou]

[o] o not, rock, model, bottle, copy

or more, order, cord, port,

work, word [r]
o long, gone, cost, coffee,

[o:] aw, au law, saw, pause, because,

ought bought, thought, caught,

al, wa- hall, always, water, war, want

[oi] oi, oy oil, voice, noise, boy, toy

o go, note, open, old, most, do, move [u:]

[ou]
oa, ow road, boat, low, own, bowl how, owl [au]

u use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune,

ew few, dew, mew, new,

[yu:]
eu euphemism, feud, neutral,

ue, ui hue, cue, due, sue, suit

[u:]
u rude, Lucy, June,

o, oo do, move, room, tool,

ew crew, chew, flew, jewel, guide, quite [ai];

ue, ui blue, true, fruit, juice, build [i]

 ou group, through, route;

AmE: duty, new, sue, student

oo look, book, foot, good,

[u] u put, push, pull, full, sugar,

ou would, could, should

u, o gun, cut, son, money, love,

Also:
ou tough, enough, rough,
neutral sound [] stressed, [];
a, e about, brutal, taken, violent,
unstressed, [].
o, i memory, reason, family

er, ur, ir serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir,

[r] or, ar work, word, doctor, dollar,

heart, hearth [a:]
ear heard, earn, earnest, earth

Note 1: The letter Y

The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i],
[ai]. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the
beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.

[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;

[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;

[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.

1: Y
 Y . , Y
[i], [ai]. , Y [y] (.. ),
.

[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;

[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;

[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.

Note 2: Diphthongs

A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound that consists of two parts. The first part is the main
strong component (the nucleus); the second part is short and weak (the glide). A diphthong is
always stressed on its first component: [au], [ou]. A diphthong forms one syllable. American
linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].

2:

, .
(); ().
: [au], [ou]. .
: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].

Note 3: The sound [o]

The sound [o] is short in British English. In the same words in American English, the sound [o]
is a long sound colored as [a:]. This sound is often listed as [a:] in American materials for ESL
students. In some words, there are two variants of pronunciation in AmE: [o:] or [o].

[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern, popular, respond, John,
Tom;

[o:] or [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash, water.

3: [o]
 [o] . ,
[o] , [a:]. [a:]
ESL. AmE:
[o:] [o].

[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment, document, modern, popular, respond, John,
Tom;

[o:] [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry, loss, lost, want, wash, water.

Note 4: The neutral sound

Transcription symbols for the neutral sound are [] (caret) in stressed syllables (fun, son) and []
(schwa) in unstressed syllables (about, lesson). In American ESL materials, the neutral sound is
often shown as [] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed syllables.

4:

: [] (caret) (fun, son) []

(schwa) (about, lesson). ESL
[] (schwa) , .

Read more about vowel letters and sounds in Spelling Patterns for Vowels in the section Writing.

Spelling Patterns for Vowels

Writing.