Vowels and Phonics

Vowels and Phonics 🔤

Vowels are the most important letters in English. Every word has at least one vowel!

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🌟 The Five Vowels

A

Apple 🍎

ए

E

Elephant 🐘

ई

I

Ice cream 🍦

आई

O

Orange 🍊

ओ

U

Umbrella ☂️

यू

💡 Remember: A E I O U — these 5 letters are vowels. All other letters are consonants.

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🔊 Short Vowel Sounds

Short vowels make a short, quick sound.

Vowel	Sound	Words
A	”a” as in cat	cat 🐱, bat, hat, map, bag, fan
E	”e” as in bed	bed, red, hen, ten, pen, leg
I	”i” as in sit	sit, big, pin, win, lip, dig
O	”o” as in dog	dog 🐕, hop, box, top, pot, log
U	”u” as in cup	cup, run, sun, bus, mud, bug

Short Vowel Word Families

-at family	-en family	-in family	-op family	-un family
cat	hen	pin	hop	run
bat	pen	tin	top	sun
hat	ten	win	mop	fun
mat	den	fin	pop	bun
rat	men	bin	cop	gun

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🔊 Long Vowel Sounds

Long vowels say their own name — they sound like the letter itself!

Vowel	Sound	Words
A	”ay” as in cake	cake 🎂, name, game, lake, tape, wave
E	”ee” as in tree	tree 🌳, see, me, bee, feet, sleep
I	”eye” as in bike	bike 🚲, time, five, kite, mine, ride
O	”oh” as in home	home 🏠, note, rope, bone, rose, hole
U	”you” as in cute	cute, tube, music, use, huge, mule

The Magic E Rule 🪄

When a word ends in silent E, the vowel before it says its long sound:

Without E (short)	With Magic E (long)
cap	cape
kit	kite
hop	hope
cut	cute
pin	pine
mad	made

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🔤 Vowel Sounds in Detail

👉 Long I Sound

Words like: bike, time, kite, fly, night, bright

👉 Long O Sound

Words like: home, note, rope, snow, boat, road

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🔤 Vowels vs Consonants

Vowels (5)	Consonants (21)
A, E, I, O, U	B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z

Using A or AN?

• Use A before words starting with a consonant sound: a cat, a dog, a book, a mango
• Use AN before words starting with a vowel sound: an apple, an egg, an ice cream, an orange, an umbrella

A	AN
a book	an apple
a cat	an egg
a dog	an ice cream
a mango	an orange
a tree	an umbrella

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✅ Practice Activities

Activity 1: Short or Long vowel?

1. cat — short a or long a? (short)
2. cake — short a or long a? (long)
3. sit — short i or long i? (short)
4. kite — short i or long i? (long)
5. hop — short o or long o? (short)
6. home — short o or long o? (long)

Activity 2: Find the vowel

Circle the vowel in each word:

1. cat (a)
2. bed (e)
3. pin (i)
4. dog (o)
5. cup (u)

Activity 3: A or AN?

1. ___ apple (an)
2. ___ book (a)
3. ___ elephant (an)
4. ___ mango (a)
5. ___ umbrella (an)
6. ___ orange (an)
7. ___ cat (a)
8. ___ egg (an)

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Vowels are the heart of every word! Practise their sounds every day! 🎵