Vowel Sounds and Decoding Skills

Front

R-Controlled Vowels

Back

When a vowel is followed by the letter r, it spells a new vowel sound called an r-controlled vowel. Examples: ar, or, er, ir, ur.

Front

Special Vowel Sounds

Back

Special Vowel Sounds look like adjacent vowels but do not spell a long vowel sound. Examples: au, aw, ou, ow, oi, oy, oo.

Front

Jobs of the Letter Y

Back

The letter y can function as a consonant or a vowel depending on its position in a word.

Front

Sound of -igh

Back

When the letters gh come after the vowel i, the letters gh are silent and the vowel i spells /ī/.

Front

Digraph Blends

Back

A digraph and consonant can occur together to make a three-letter digraph blend. Examples: thr, shr.

Front

Decoding Skill 1

Back

Helps divide words with more than one syllable. One must run: the consonant moves with the next syllable.

Front

Decoding Skill 2

Back

Helps divide words with more than one syllable. Two must split: the consonants split between two vowels.

Front

Silent Letters

Back

Some letters in words are not pronounced. Common silent letters include k in 'knight', b in 'lamb', and w in 'write'.

Front

Schwa Sound

Back

What can take over any vowel sound. It Most often sounds like /u/ , as in the word about, but also sound like /i/ , as in the parrot. The schwa is the most common vowel sound in the English language.

Front

Final Consonant -le

Back

Every syllable must have a vowel sound. The syllable le comes at the end of a word with more than one syllable and has a schwa vowel sound. This syllable sounds like /ul/.