The Syllable Type

The Pattern

The Sounds

More Examples

closed

One or more consonants come after the vowel. (The consonant ‘closes’ the syllable.)

Closed syllables are usually taught first because they are the most frequent syllable type in English and also the most regular.

  ‘short’ or "lax" sound

a (as in “apple”)

e (as in “Ed”)

i (as in “itch”)

o (as in “odd”)

u (as in “up”) 

bat

sell

it

dock

stump

r-controlled

An <r> comes after the vowel, ‘controlling’ the sound of the vowel.

      -ar

      -or

      -er (spelled  ir, er or ur)

warm

sort

fir, pert, fur

open

The vowel ends the syllable. (i.e., It is ‘open.’)

 “long” or "tense" sound

a (as in “ta-ble” )

e (as in “he”)

i (as in “hi”)

o (as in “so”)

u (as in  “u-nit”)

vi-o-let

ve-to

diet

zero

O-hi-o

silent -e

The syllable ends with an

<-e> as a signal that the main vowel is ‘long’.

This final <e> has no sound of its own

  “long” or "tense" sound

a (as in “made” )

i (as in “five”)

o (as in “hope”)

u (as in  “sore”)

lake

bone

vice

smile

grade

vowel team

The vowel sound is represented by two or more vowel letters.

Most, but not all, of these vowel sounds are “long” vowel sounds.  Because there are multiple spelling options symbol memory is important for the correct spelling of vowel teams.

Examples:

 “long” or "tense" sound

ai (as in “brain”)

ee (as in “beef”)

  ‘short’ or "lax"  sound

        ea (as in “wear”)

 ‘diphthong’ (a gliding vowel) 

         oy, oi / ow, ou

lay

clean

sweater

bread

boil, boy

cow, loud

consonant +le

This syllable pattern is a consonant followed by <le>.

It occurs only at the end of multisyllable words.

This syllable sounds like the consonant + ‘uh-l” (but the spelling looks like it should be “luh’).  The vowel sound in the {consonant +le} syllable is schwa: /ə/

little

terrible

cradle