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VOWEL SPELLING CHART

A guide to the spelling patterns for English vowels

  1. How English vowel sounds can be spelled
  2. How English vowel spellings can be pronounced

1. How English vowel sounds can be spelled

a

can meringue have plait guarantee salmon harangue matt

e

bed any bury palate fence guess peril said head foreign friend phlegm debt
Wednesday cheque leopard repp

i

big pretty women stomach busy message breeches give sieve city language build
rhythm victuals bicycle carriage ill

o

dog was gone forest knowledge laurel cough honour
John yacht because boss

u

fun mother come uncle blood young tough thorough ugh
tongue tortoise conscious station butt

A

baby mate ballet fete bouquet sail break veil they bouquet
eight dahlia reign straight raise gaol play melee

E

me scene police piano sea receipt chief key debris league people
please cheese receive bee piece paediatric amoeba lieutenant

I

bite find eye aisle either sky guide height sign island light
dye diamond buy choir aye dies

O

go home show brooch chauffeur shoulder though folk ghost
depot rogue mauve beau boat own

U

music use ewe view you suit Hugh impugn fugue
juice beauty lieu deuce feud

ar

fast car mirage sergeant aunt heart guard laugh
khaki half bourgeois bazaar

er

her fur girl work were circle nurse sugar early journey
myrrh colonel answer amateur worse

air

scare there air bear their parent mayor aeroplane

or/aw

for horse ball awe warm poor autumn four bought taught talk
sword cause George board broad course

ow

round cow bough hour mouse sauerkraut

oy

boy boil quoit buoy noise gargoyle

oo

as in moon do truth shoe blue soup through fruit rheumatism two
bruise route choose manoeuvre pleurisy

oo

as in look put wolf worsted could

2. How English vowel spellings can be pronounced

a

can any stomach was baby fast sugar parent ball a

e

bed pretty ballet me

i

big meringue piano find girl

o

dog women mother go work do wolf

u

fun busy fury music fur truth put

a-e

have palate message gate mirage scare awe

e-e

fence breeches get scene eye ewe were there Wednesday

i-e

bite police give circle

o-e

bone gone done horse shoe amoeba

u-e

use guess uncle bouquet nurse blue suede

ar

car around warm

er

peril sergeant her

air

air

or

for forest sailor

ow

cow show knowledge

oy

boy oyez

oo

moon look blood brooch poor zoology

ai

sail said plait aisle dais naive

au

autumn laurel aunt chauffeur sauerkraut

ea

beach head break heart early bear theatre

ei

either veil foreign receipt their deist

ie

chief sieve friend view piety

y ey

city sky they key eye

ou

shoulder you young bouquet journey four out soup could

ough

cough tough thorough though bought bough through

ua

dual guarantee language guard suave

ui

suing suit build guide fruit

ugh

eugh laugh taught Hugh

eigh

eight height

some others

ach - yacht bachelor mach stomach
al - salmon always almond
a-ue harangue ague argue
ay- play aye
ee - bee matinee
eg - phlegm
eb - debt
eo- leopard leonine deo
eque -cheque
eu - feud pleurisy
hy- rhythm hyena
ict- victuals indict victory
oa - goat oasis broad
oi - boil going
y-e -bicyle style

more still

carriage honour because station question dahlia straight buy choir
aeroplane mouse quiot noise gargoyle manoeuvre bruise etc etc

And more still, explaining why English spelling is unpredictable

 

 

Vowel spelling patterns - another way of setting out the variety

A  fat  cat

Guarantees  to  have  salmon  and  meringue  to harangue  with  plaits

A red  hen

Heavy heads

 I  said  I  guess  it’s nonsense  that  many  friends  pay with  cheques  on  Wednesdays  to  bury  leopards.

 Pink  pigs

Give  and  live

Pity  the  city

 

Pretty   busy   women   build   with   rhythm   on bicycles.

Hot   dog

What   was

Gone   scone

John   got   lots   of   honours   and   laurels   because   of his   knowledge   of   how   to   cough   on   yachts.

Fun run

Some come

Son won

Mothers and uncles with young blood have thoroughly tough tongues. 

dark  car 

fast   past

bananas  in  pajamas  passed glassed

Half the guard at the heart  of the  bazaar  laughed at the   sergeant’s  aunt  in   bourgeois   khaki.

 her  fern

bird  girl

learn to earn

word  work

cur’s   fur

The  journalist’s  answers  to  the  amateur nurse were  worse  than the colonel’s circles of   myrrh.

fair  hair              share  care

bear   wear           Where?There!

The mayor’s parents  spared their   aeroplane   fares.

 sports sort       

poor  door

more  stores

ward off  war  

George bore four swords  on  board  his horse,  of  course.

raw  paw  

ball  wall  walk  talk

 Paul  in  autumn taught  and  caught   brought ought

The  cause  of  the   awe  was  broad.        

bake  cake

play   day

lazy   baby

wait   for  train

raise   maize

great   steak  

They reign at the ballet  matinees with  veils  and  bouquets.

Eight   straight  dahlias   in   gaols.

we  be

real  beat

chief  thief

meet in street

police piano

please tease

 freeze   cheese    receive  receipt

  The people believe

in  the  key  to  the  league.

hi-fi

my  try

like  to  bite

bright  light

flies die

The   guide  on  the  island  eyed  the diamond   in  the  aisle  by  the  choir. 

But  why  sign  to  either  with  dye?       

no go old gold

boats float

know the show

The  rogue of a chauffeur at  the  depot  holds a mauve brooch on his  shoulder.

Folk  know,  though,  that  his  beau  was  a  ghost  in  Cologne.

emu  menu 

tuba music

 

refuse to use

new stew

rescue due

 You  view  Hugh’s  beautiful  ewe.   There’s  a    deuce  of  a  feud  over  the  juice  in  lieu  of  an impugned  fugue.                              

brown  cow    

sound  around

mouse  house

Sauerkraut  on  the bough

toy   boy

boil   in   oil

The  noise  of  a  gargoyle  on  the  life-buoy

cool moon    to do

true blue      truly  unruly 

 a lulu of a tutu

Choose  fruit   soup  or  lose   two  shoes  en  route  to  the  manoeuvres.

look, a   book !

put,   push   and   pull

could, would  and   should

Wolf  !