English Vowel Sounds
Common Spellings
Click on any of the sounds below to be taken to individual practice for that sound, or click on the Lessons menu at left to see more structured lessons on American English sound pronunciation. Click "Consonants" above to see the list of consonant sounds. Click on the "Lessons" menu at left to see lessons on how to pronounce the sounds.
| Short Vowel |
| a | cat |
| e | bed |
| i | sit |
| o | top |
| u | bug |
|
| Long Vowel |
| a* | cake | pain | say |
| e | keep | team | any |
| i | bike | pie | right | by |
| o* | home | boat | show |
| u* | cute | cue |
|
| Other Vowels |
| oo | soon | rude | new | due |
| u | put | look | could |
| oi* | join | boy |
| ow | down | round |
| aw | dog | paw | bought | caught |
* 2-sound vowel