Vowels are speech sounds that are made by our vocal bands. They also happen to be five / twenty-sixth of our alphabet. Depending on how a vowel sound is stressed within a word determines the classification of a vowel. There are two standard classifications. Long vowels are vowels that sound the same as the letter that they represent. For example, in the word "bake", the vowel a is said the same exact way as you say it when reciting the alphabet for your teacher. Short vowels do not have the same sound within a word as they do within the alphabet. For example, the vowel a in the word "apple". If you look at the entire language short vowels are much more common. The best way to identify the use of a long and short a vowel is to say the word aloud to yourself and ask yourself if the vowel sound is the same as the name of the vowel. If the vowel (in this case "a") says it's name, it is consider a long vowel. Such as in the word "take". If the vowel does not do that and make another sound, it's considered a short vowel. Many people don't understand the importance of understanding long and short vowels. It becomes a very valuable skill once you start to encountering higher level vocabulary words. The most common long a words are: baby, lady, paper, bake, rake and lane. The most common short a words are: dad, hat, man, sat, fan and lane.
Print Long A Short a Vowel Sounds Worksheets
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The Long A Sound
Circle the objects that have a long A (ā) sound. Then write the word under the picture.
Coloring the Long and Short
Color the words RED if they have words that give off the same tone and pitch as the letter itself. Color the Short a words BLUE. Color all other words GREEN.
Long A Words
Complete each sentence with a Long A word from the word box. This is a two part activity.
Circling Long A
Circle the word in each pair that has the long a sound. Write that word on the line. Say the name of each picture. If it has a Long A sound, draw a line to connect the picture to the Long A.
Long Word Search
Underline the Long A words in the story and write them on the lines. Only write each word once. The story: Jane was going on vacation. She was very excited, because she was going to travel on a plane.
Say It, Draw It
Say the name of each picture. If it has a short a sound, draw a line to connect the picture to the it. Can you think of two things whose name contains the short a sound? Draw a picture of each thing. Then write its name on the line.
Does It Speak To You?
Read each word. Does it have a long (ā) sound, or a short (ă) sound? Color in the circle next to the correct sound.
Can You Hear the Sound?
Circle the word in each set that starts with a short a (ă) sound and the word that just contains it as well.
What is the Difference Between Long and Short Vowels?
The English language is full of complexities. The more you seem to know it, the less you do. Several components combine to make a sentence. One of the critical parts of the English alphabet is vowels. Out of the total twenty-six alphabet letters, only five are vowels. However, all of these are commonly used in our daily conversations. Today, we will examine the key differences between long vowels and short vowels. Before we get started, let's look at the definition first.
What Are Vowels?
The five letters of the English alphabet, A, E, I, O, and U, are known as vowels. These are the letters that we can pronounce with open mouths. All these letters have everyday use in many words of the English language. While this may be correct, we can classify them into two types based on their pronunciation and usage.
Long Vowels
Long vowels are those with long pronunciations. The sound of these vowels depends on their positioning in different words. Typically, the sound of these vowels is similar to their alphabetical title. For example, the sound of 'A' in the word "Name" and 'E' in the word "Sheet" is similar to the sound of their titles.
Such vowels are used in open syllables, usually ending with a vowel. If two vowels consecutively arrive between the first and the last letter of any word, the first of the two will have a dominant sound. For example, the sound of 'O' in "Toad" dominates the sound of 'A,' making it a long vowel. Similarly, the sound of 'E' in the word "Beat" dominates the sound of 'A.'
If we talk about the spellings, these vowels may have complicated patterns compared to short vowels. For the words in which a vowel arrives after the first letter and in the last position, the sound of the last one remains silent. However, the dominant sound of the first vowel makes it a long vowel. For example, the sound of 'E' in the word "Take" is silent.
Short Vowels
Short vowels refer to those vowels with shorter pronunciations. Like long vowels, the sound of these vowels also depends on their position in any word. The sounds of these may not be similar to their alphabetical names. For example, the sound of 'A' in the word "Hat" and 'E' in the word "Beg" are not similar to their alphabetical names.
Since short vowels have a shorter pronunciation, you can easily pronounce them without stressing your jaws. However, this may not entirely be true. There are a few exceptions when you may need to stress your tongue to pronounce them. For example, the first 'O' in the word "Potato" demands more stress in pronunciation compared to the last 'O.
Unlike long vowels, short vowels are primarily present in closed syllables. This is one of the reasons that these vowels do not demand stress in pronunciation in most cases. In some instances, you may also find these at the initial position of a word. For example, "Egg," "At," etc.
Summing Up
The key differences between the two types of vowels highlighted above can help you identify the use of each in different syllables. Minor differences can change the sounds of different words used in our daily conversations.
It is worth remembering that most of the differences lie based on the positioning of vowels. Keeping these factors in view allows you to differentiate between differently sounding words using the same vowels. If you want to look into more examples, you can conduct online research to find complex syllable structures.