Vowels and Vowel Sounds in English with Examples

What are vowels? How many vowels are there in the English language? Are vowels and vowel sounds the same? Find answers to these questions, and also go through the list of vowels, vowel sounds and words with and without vowels in this article.

Table of Contents

• What Is a Vowel?
• Vowel Sounds in English
• Classification of Vowels
• Pure Vowels
• List of Pure Vowels with Examples
• Diphthongs
• List of Diphthongs with Examples
• Types of Vowels/Vowel Sounds
• Short Vowels
• Long Vowels
• Short Vowel Sounds
• Long Vowel Sounds
• Consonants That Blend In
• Is ‘Y’ a Vowel?
• Common Mistakes Made with the Use of Vowels
• Use of Vowels in Words
• List of Words with Vowels
• List of Words with No Vowels
• Frequently Asked Questions on Vowels and Vowel Sounds in English

What Is a Vowel?

The term ‘vowel’ is used to refer to letters used to represent vowel sounds. In the English language, five letters among the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet are called vowels. They are a, e, i, o, and u. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines a vowel as “a letter that represents a vowel sound”. Now, let us find out what a vowel sound is.

What Is a Vowel Sound?

A vowel sound is a speech sound that is pronounced without the lips, tongue, teeth or throat blocking the air produced when uttering the letter. According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, a vowel sound is “a speech sound in which the mouth is open, and the tongue is not touching the top of the mouth, the teeth, etc., so that the flow of air is not limited”. There are only five vowels in the English language, but there are twenty vowel sounds in total. Out of the twenty, eight of them are called diphthongs. Let us look at the following lists of vowel sounds and diphthongs to have a clearer idea.

Classification of Vowels

Vowels are classified into two – pure vowels and diphthongs.

Pure Vowels

Vowels which have a single vowel sound when pronounced are called pure vowels. The twelve vowel sounds we have mentioned earlier are pure vowels. Words such as announce(ə), fret(e), sun(ʌ), tick(ɪ), please(iː), dot(ɒ), foot(ʊ), food(uː), word(ɜː), warm(ɔː), arm(aː) and pant(æ) come under this category.

Pure vowels are further classified into two – checked vowels and free vowels. Read on to learn what they are.

Checked Vowels

Among the 12 vowel sounds, 7 of them are considered checked vowels. They are ʌ, e, ə, ʊ, ɪ, æ and ɒ. These vowels cannot occur at the end of open syllables.

Free Vowels

The five vowel sounds uː, iː, ɜː, aː and ɔː are considered free vowels. These vowels can be used at the end of open syllables.

List of Pure Vowels with Examples

The 12 vowel sounds in English have been provided below with examples to help you understand. Check them out.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are speech sounds formed by the combination of two vowel sounds. They do not resemble the speech sound of either vowel sound, instead form an entirely new speech sound.

List of Diphthongs with Examples

Given below is a table with the eight diphthongs in the English language. Go through the examples given for each diphthong to clearly understand what the phoneme sounds like.

Types of Vowels/Vowel Sounds

Vowels/vowel sounds are categorised into two based on the length of the vowel sound and the number of vowels. They are

• Short vowels
• Long vowels

Let us look at each of them in detail.

Short Vowels

Short vowels are those that appear individually in words. These words normally end with consonants. They can, in no way, appear at the end of the last syllable of a word.

Here are a few examples.

• ‘a’ in ‘pan’
• ‘e’ in ‘rent’
• ‘i’ in ‘pit’
• ‘o’ in ‘cot’
• ‘u’ in ‘truck’

Long Vowels

The term ‘long vowels’ is used to refer to two or more vowels that appear in words. Words with long vowels can start/end with vowels. Take a look at the following examples to understand.

• ‘a’ in ‘fake’
• ‘e’ in ‘tedious’’
• ‘i’ in ‘blind’
• ‘o’ in ‘rote’
• ‘u’ in ‘cumin’

The categorisation of vowel sounds as long and short would not be the same. There is a difference. They would include words with diphthongs as well. Let us look at the following examples to comprehend how it works.

Short Vowel Sounds

• ‘a’ in ‘braid’, ‘falcon’, ‘steak’
• ‘e’ in ‘furry’, ‘tread’, ‘says’
• ‘i’ in ‘women’, ‘eject’, ‘houses’
• ‘o’ in ‘entrepreneur’, ‘cause’, ‘flaw’
• ‘u’ in ‘flood’, ‘done’, ‘son’

Long Vowel Sounds

• ‘a’ in ‘faint’, ‘weight’, ‘dainty’
• ‘e’ in ‘receive’, ‘weak’, ‘encyclopaedia’
• ‘i’ in ‘tight’, ‘ice’, ‘eye’
• ‘o’ in ‘blow’, ‘road’, ‘door’
• ‘u’ in ‘new’, ‘queue’, ‘vacuum’

Consonants That Blend In

Consonants usually have sounds which are, in no way, related to the vowel sounds. However, there are some consonants that blend in with a vowel to form a vowel sound. In these cases, the consonant sound of these consonants are not evident at all. They include w, r, l and y. Here are a few examples.

• Alms
• Days
• Awe
• Play
• Few
• Fur
• Now
• Palm
• Arms
• Fowl
• Balm
• For
• Toy
• Pulley
• Thaw
• Fir

Is ‘Y’ a Vowel?

The letter ‘y’ is a consonant, but it can be considered a vowel sound. Why is it so? Have you ever noticed the pronunciation of the letter ‘y’ when placed in different positions in words? Analyse the words given below.

Except for the first word, the consonant sound /j/ is not pronounced in any of the other words. So, it can be said that ‘y’ can be considered as both a consonant and vowel sound because of its specific function.

Common Mistakes Made with the Use of Vowels

With the number of examples you have already come across, you would have understood the different spellings that can be possible for a vowel sound. That is the reason the English language has homophones.

Let us look at some examples.

When you look at these, don’t you feel it is easier to learn the phonetic transcription of words than the spelling of words? Well, this is one of the factors that makes the English language interesting.

Use of Vowels in Words

Take a look at the following word lists to learn a few words with vowels and no vowels.

List of Words with Vowels

• Gate
• Fleet
• Slot
• Plough
• Taught
• Preach
• Dance
• Whale
• Plight
• Neighbour
• Friendship
• Comfortable
• Irreversible
• Affectionate
• Biodegradable

List of Words with No Vowels

• Dry
• Fly
• Shy
• By
• Gym
• Ply
• Sly
• Cry
• Why
• Pry
• Spy
• Gypsy
• Cyst
• Crypt
• Rhythm

You can check out the articles on vowel words and consonant words to build your vocabulary.