ShortThe next step after bossy r
Vowel Teams
Two letters, one vowel sound
A vowel team is two vowel letters working together to spell one sound. Many vowel teams follow a reliable position rule: one spelling is used in the middle of a word, and a different spelling is used at the end.
What is a vowel team?
In words such as rain, day, and boat, two vowel letters combine to spell a single vowel sound. Unlike silent e, both letters in a vowel team are usually right next to each other.
A reliable pattern
Middle spelling, end spelling
Several vowel teams share the same sound but change spelling depending on where the sound falls in the word. Learning this rule once makes three separate patterns easier at the same time.
rain, train · day, play
boat, road · snow, grow
coin, oil · boy, toy
This site teaches the end-of-word spelling as its own word family, since those are the words that fit a clean list. The middle-of-word spelling is explained in each family's notes.
Long A: ai / ay
Long A: ai / ay
ai in the middle of a word, ay at the end. Both spell /eɪ/.
Long E: ee / ea
Long E: ee / ea
Two common spellings for /iː/. Ea also has a smaller short-e exception, as in head.
Long O: oa / ow
Long O: oa / ow
oa in the middle of a word, ow at the end. Both spell /oʊ/.
Long I: igh / ight
Long I: igh / ight
A silent gh followed by a final t is one of the most common vowel-team endings in English.
Long U: ue / ew
Long U: ue / ew
Two common spellings for /uː/, the same sound heard in words spelled with oo.
Diphthong: oi / oy
Diphthong: oi / oy
oi in the middle of a word, oy at the end. Both glide through /ɔɪ/.
Ready for the next skill?
After vowel teams: Spelling Patterns
Two more rules round out the core patterns: when c and g change sound, as in city and giant, and how words ending in a consonant plus le, such as table and little, divide into syllables.