How to spell long
A, O and I sounds
All these phonemes can make an A sound
-ai-
raid, maid, laid, tail, trail, sail, mail, grail, bail, bait, wait, prevail, paid, pain, fail, braid, plain, main, slain, chain, brain, Spain, rain, train, strain, grain
-ay
say, Monday, day, play, okay, way, clay, slay,
bay, lay, May, tray, ray, spray, pray, pay, stay
-a_e
whale, game, lake, tale, cake, sake, made, sale, shake, cave, fake, fate, make, kale, date,
chase, crane, crave, face, bake, Wales, mace, brake, take, male, rake, snake, scale, late, plate, mate
-ei-
reins, veil, weight, neigh, vein, sheikh, eight, freight
-a-
acorn, apron, alien, agent, basic, basin, data, fatal
These words sound the same but have different meaning and are spelt different.
-a_e
whales - Wales tale - tail
made - maid
sale - sail
weight - wait brake - break
rain - rein - reign
vein - vane
eight - ate
veil - vale
mail - male
How to pronounce the 'long o' /oʊ/
The 'long o' /oʊ/ is a two-sound vowel that ends in a brief 'w sound' /w/.
Part 1: The body of the tongue is pushed back and in a low-to-mid mouth position and the bottom teeth can be felt along the sides of the tongue.
Part 2: The sound moves into a 'w sound' /w/ by raising the jaw slightly while closing the lips into a small circle. The body of the tongue moves upward until the tongue is near the back of the hard palate.
All these phonemes can make an O sound
-oa-
oat,
-ow
snow,
-o_e
drove,
All these phonemes can make an I sound
-ie-
tie
die
lie
pie
applied
denied
identified
multiplied
-i_e
bribe
wide
life
hike
reconcile
time
shine
gripe
-igh-
high
thigh
bright
knight
slight
nightmare
twilight
highlight
-ig-
sign
resign
design
consign
align
assign
-y
by
dry
sly
shy
apply
deny
identify
multiply
-i-
item
idea
iron
irate
crisis
final
pilot
silent