The vowel's two voices
The letter A says its short sound in 'cat' but its long name in 'cake' — same letter, two voices. Spotting which voice a vowel uses is the key to reading and spelling tricky words.
Every vowel has two voices
The vowels a, e, i, o, u each make a short sound and a long sound. The long sound says the letter's own name. A short 'a' sounds like the a in 'cat'; a long 'a' sounds like the a in 'cake'.
The magic e
A silent 'e' at the end often makes the vowel long: 'cap' becomes 'cape', 'kit' becomes 'kite'. The e is quiet but it changes the sound before it.
Simulation · Vocabulary flashcards
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Flip through word pairs and say each vowel sound out loud.