Spelling

Concept: Spell Words with Double Vowels

Definition

• When a word has two vowels in the spelling that is one after another, it is known as double vowels.
• In such cases, you can only hear the pronunciation of the first vowel.

Let’s take a look at what vowels are.

Vowels

• Out of the 26 alphabets in English language, five of them which includes A, E, I, O, U, are known as vowels.
• The vowel sounds are different to consonants sounds.

Example of Words with double vowels:

a)

b)

• In the word ‘Goat’, there are two vowels together ‘oa’. However, the there is a single sound for both the vowels.
• In the other word, ‘Peach’ there are two vowels together ‘ea’ and these letters make one sound.

Let’s take a look at some of the words that has double vowels.

Rules

1. Double vowels with ‘oa’: When two vowels are next to each other, the first vowel usually has a longer sound and the second vowel is silent.

Example:

In the word ‘road’, ‘oa’ are two vowels. However, the pronunciation is of ‘a’ is silent and the pronunciation of ‘o’ can be heard.

2. Double vowels with ‘ie’: The letters ‘ie’ used in the word usually have the letter ‘i’ pronunciation stressed more than the letter ‘e’.

Example:

In the word ‘pie’, the letters ‘ie’ are two vowels. However, the pronunciation is of ‘i’ and ‘e’ is silent.

a)



b)

Exceptions

In words that have two ‘o’ together (oo), you don’t make a long sound.

Example:

a)

b)

In the above, two words, ‘book’ and ‘wool’, there are two ‘o’ which is a vowel, but the pronunciation of two ‘o’ is short.