What Are Long Vowels?
A long vowel says its own name. Long A sounds like the "a" in "cake," long E sounds like the "e" in "tree," and so on. There are three main spelling patterns that create long vowel sounds.
Pattern 1: Silent-E (Magic E)
When a word ends in a consonant followed by the letter E, the first vowel usually says its long sound and the E is silent.
The Rule: vowel + consonant + e = long vowel sound. The E is silent but makes the first vowel "say its name."
Long A: cake
c-a-k-e: The A says its name /ay/. Other examples: make, name, late, game, plate, snake
Long I: kite
k-i-t-e: The I says its name /eye/. Other examples: bike, time, five, hide, smile, white
Long O: home
h-o-m-e: The O says its name /oh/. Other examples: bone, rope, nose, hole, stone, phone
Long U: cube
c-u-b-e: The U says its name /yoo/. Other examples: cute, huge, mule, tune, use, fuse
Pattern 2: Vowel Teams
When two vowels appear together, the first vowel often says its long sound and the second is silent. The old saying is: "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking."
Note: This rule works most of the time but has exceptions. It is most reliable with AI, AY, EA, EE, and OA.
AI / AY: rain, play
Long A sound. AI usually appears in the middle: rain, train, wait, paint. AY appears at the end: play, day, say, stay.
EA / EE: read, tree
Long E sound. EA: read, teach, clean, meat, beach. EE: tree, see, free, green, sleep, feet.
OA / OW: boat, snow
Long O sound. OA: boat, road, coat, soap, goal. OW (at end): snow, show, grow, blow, flow.
IE / IGH: pie, night
Long I sound. IE (at end): pie, tie, lie, die. IGH: night, light, right, high, bright, sight.
Pattern 3: Open Syllables
When a syllable ends with a vowel (no consonant after it), the vowel usually makes its long sound. These are called open syllables.
me, he, she, we, be
Single-syllable words ending in a vowel. The vowel says its long sound: /ee/.
go, no, so
Single-syllable words ending in O. The O says its long sound: /oh/.
ta-ble, mu-sic, pi-lot
In multi-syllable words, the first syllable is open (ends in a vowel) so it has the long sound: /ay/, /yoo/, /eye/.
Quick Review
Three ways to make long vowels:
1. Silent-E: cake, bike, home, cube
2. Vowel Teams: rain, tree, boat, night
3. Open Syllables: me, go, ta-ble, mu-sic
1. Silent-E: cake, bike, home, cube
2. Vowel Teams: rain, tree, boat, night
3. Open Syllables: me, go, ta-ble, mu-sic