Short Vowel Sounds

a, e, i, o, u in short words.

Examples

• cat, bed, sit, hot, cup

Key rules

• Short vowels are short, relaxed sounds found in closed syllables such as cat, bed, sit, hot and cup
• The vowel sound ends before the next consonant
• These sounds are the most common vowel sounds in simple words

Common mistakes

• Saying cake with a short a → Say /eɪ/ as in cake only for the long vowel
• Saying cut as /kʌt/ with a long u → Keep the short sound, as in cut

Use cases

• Reading simple words in Beginner lessons
• Spelling practice
• Correcting pronunciation of common short words