A vowel combination is a combination of two or three vowels, or of a vowel and at
least one consonant, that is associated with one or more specific single sounds.
For example, ea has the sounds /long e/ and /long a/; ay has the sound /long a/,
and igh has the sound /long i/. These vowel combinations are sometimes called
digraphs, diphthongs, trigraphs, and triphthongs.
Vowel combinations occur in three different forms in written English:
1. Vowels often appear in clusters within a single syllable. This is the most
common form.
2. Vowels often appear in combination with a particular consonant or
consonants which, together, represent a sound unit that is different from
what you would expect if you didn't know the specific combination. For
example, the o in old has the /long o/ sound, but if you didn't already know
that already, you would think that the o in cold was short.
3. Another common combination in English is one or two vowels followed by
gh. The gh is usually silent. It is usually easier to decode the whole unit (igh,
eigh) than to process the vowel and the gh separately.
A Vowel Combinations
ai/ay
Together, ai or ay make a /long a/ sound.
Example words: aim, rain, braid, paint, ray, say, stay, tail, twain, praise, stain, and
main
Other a vowel combinations
ay as in day, say, play, spray, and tray
au as in fault, gaunt, fraud, launch, pause, and sauce
aw as in saw, paw, claw, dawn, and crawl
augh as in caught, taught, daughter, naughty, haughty, and slaughter
wa /wô/ as in want, wash, swamp, squash, squat
wa /wă/ as in wax, wag, swam, and quack
all as in ball, tall, hall, and small
ald as in bald, scald, and alder
alk as in talk, walk, chalk, and stalk
alm as in alms, calm, palm, and psalm
alt as in halt, malt, and salt
E Vowel Combinations
ee and ea
Together, ee or ea make a /long e/ sound. Sometimes, ea together makes a /short
e/ sound or a /long a/ sound instead.
Example words (ee): peek, see, queen, sleep, cheese, street, meet, and team
Example words (ea /long e/): eat, sea, each, leaf, peach, mean, team, ease, and
please
Example words (ea /short e/): dead, head, spread, health, and meant
Example words (ea /long a/): break, great, steak, and yea
Other e vowel combinations
eu/ew as in sleuth, deuce, few, new, and shrewd
ei/ey/eigh /long a/ as in veil, beige, they, whey, eight, and weigh
ei/ey/eigh /long e/ as in seize, key, money, valley
ei/ey/eigh /long i/ as in heist, eye, geyser, height
I Vowel Combinations
ie /long e/ as in brief, field, grieve, and piece
ie/ye /long i/ as in die, tie, dye, and rye
igh as in high, thigh, night, flight, and wright
ign as in sign, align, assign, and benign
ind as in bind, kind, mind, grind, and behind
O Vowel Combinations
oo as in boo, food, smooth, and moose
oo as in book, look, good, and stood
oa /long o/ as in oat, loam, groan, loathe, and loaves
oe /long o/ as in doe, and hoe
oi/oy /y/ as in oil, coin, voice, boy, and ploy
old/olk/olt /long o/ as in gold, scold, folk, yolk, bolt, and volt
oll/ost /long o/ as in roll, knoll, scroll, ghost, most, and post
oll/ost /short o/ as in doll, loll, cost, lost, and frost
ou/ow as in out, round, bounce, how, down, and browse
ou/ow /long o/ as in soul, poultry, own, glow, snow, and owe
ou as in you, soup, group, and rouge
U Vowel Combinations
ue /long u/ as in cue, due, hue, rue, sue, blue, clue, flue, glue, and true
ui /long u/ as in suit, fruit, cruise, juice, and sluice
