Long Vowel Sounds

Vowels that say their name.

Examples

• cake, bike, home

Key rules

• Long vowels say their name in words such as cake, bike, home and cute
• Often the letter e at the end of a word makes the vowel long
• Long vowels are held for longer than short vowels

Common mistakes

• Pronouncing bike with a short i → Say /aɪ/, as in bike, with a longer sound

Use cases

• Reading words with silent e
• Pronouncing place names and common words
• Learning spelling patterns