120 cards

Long Vowel Flashcards

Read the word, then turn the card to see which letters spell the long vowel.

rain

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Long a 24

baby a: The a ends the first syllable, ba-by, so it is long. The y says long e.
cake a_e: Silent e makes the a long. Also in bake and lake.
cape a_e: cap + e = cape. The e is silent and the a turns long.
clay ay: Long a at the end of a word. c, l, ay: four letters, three sounds.
day ay: Long a at the end of a word, and it stays ay in today.
eight eigh: Four letters, one long a, and the t. Sounds the same as ate.
gate a_e: Silent e makes the a long. Also in late and plate.
gray ay: Long a at the end of a word. Also spelled grey, with ey.
great ea says long a here and in break and steak. Sounds the same as grate.
made a_e: mad + e = made. Sounds the same as maid, spelled ai.
name a_e: Silent e makes the a long. Also in game and same.
paid ai: Long a in the middle of a word. pad + i = paid.
plane a_e: plan + e = plane. Sounds the same as plain, spelled ai.
play ay: Long a at the end of a word. Also in say.

Show all 120 cards (106 more)

Long a, continued

rain ai: Long a in the middle of a word. ran + i = rain.
snail ai: Long a in the middle of a word. Also in mail and sail.
stay ay: Long a at the end of a word. Add ed and the ay stays: stayed.
tail ai: Long a in the middle of a word. Sounds the same as tale, spelled a_e.
tape a_e: tap + e = tape. The e is silent and the a turns long.
they ey says long a here and in obey. In key it says long e.
train ai: Long a in the middle of a word. Also in brain.
tray ay: Long a at the end of a word. Add s and the ay stays: trays.
wait ai: Long a in the middle of a word. Sounds the same as weight.
wave a_e: Silent e makes the a long, as in cave and save. Have breaks the pattern.

Long e 24

beach ea: Long e. Sounds the same as beech, the tree, spelled ee.
clean ea: Long e. Also in bean.
compete e_e: com-pete: the e after p is long and the last e is silent.
dream ea: Long e. Also in cream and steam.
feet ee: Two letters e, one long e. Sounds the same as feat, spelled ea.
field ie says long e here and in chief. In pie it says long i.
funny y at the end says long e, as in sunny.
green ee: Two letters e, one long e. Also in seen.
happy y at the end says long e in this two-syllable word: hap-py.
key ey says long e here and in money. In they it says long a.
leaf ea: Long e here. The same two letters say short e in bread.
me e: One e at the end of a short word is long.
mean ea: Long e. men + a = mean.
puppy y at the end says long e. In fly the y says long i.
queen ee: Two letters e, one long e. The qu before it says kw.
seat ea: Long e. set + a = seat.
she e: One e at the end of a short word is long: sh, e.
sheep ee: sh, ee, p: five letters, three sounds.
sleep ee: Two letters e, one long e. Also in deep and keep.
team ea: Long e. Sounds the same as teem, spelled ee.
theme e_e: The first e is long and the last e is silent.
these e_e: The first e is long, the last e is silent and the s says z.
tree ee: Two letters e, one long e. Also in see and bee.
week ee: Two letters e, one long e. Sounds the same as weak, spelled ea.

Long i 24

bike i_e: Silent e makes the i long. Also in hike and like.
bright igh: b, r, igh, t: six letters, four sounds.
child i: One i is long before ld. In children it turns short.
cry y at the end says long i. Add es and the y turns to i: cries.
find i: One i is long before nd here. In wind, moving air, it is short.
five i_e: Silent e makes the i long, as in dive and hive. Give breaks the pattern.
fly y at the end of a one-syllable word says long i.
high igh: Three letters, one long i. Sounds the same as hi.
kind i: One i is long before nd, as in find.
kite i_e: kit + e = kite. The e is silent and the i turns long.
lie ie at the end says long i. In field the same letters say long e.
light igh: Three letters, one long i: the g and h are silent.
my y is the only vowel here, and it says long i.
night igh: Three letters, one long i. Sounds the same as knight.
pie ie at the end of a short word says long i. Sounds the same as pi.
pine i_e: pin + e = pine. The e is silent and the i turns long.
ride i_e: rid + e = ride. The e is silent and the i turns long.
right igh: Three letters, one long i. Sounds the same as write.
sky y at the end of a one-syllable word says long i. In happy it says long e.
slide i_e: slid + e = slide. The e is silent and the i turns long.
smile i_e: Silent e makes the i long. Also in mile and pile.
tie ie at the end of a short word says long i.
time i_e: Silent e makes the i long. Also in lime and dime.
try y at the end says long i. Add ed and the y turns to i: tried.

Long o 24

blow ow: Long o at the end of a word. The past is blew, with ew.
boat oa: Long o in the middle of a word.
bone o_e: Silent e makes the o long. Also in cone and stone.
coat oa: Long o in the middle of a word. cot + a = coat.
doe oe at the end says long o. Sounds the same as dough.
go o: One o at the end of a short word is long.
goat oa: Long o in the middle of a word. got + a = goat.
grow ow: Long o at the end of a word. The past is grew, with ew.
home o_e: Silent e makes the o long. Come breaks the pattern.
hope o_e: hop + e = hope. The e is silent and the o turns long.
most o: One o is long before st here. In lost and cost it is not.
no o: One o at the end of a short word is long. Sounds the same as know.
nose o_e: Silent e makes the o long and the s says z. Sounds the same as knows.
note o_e: not + e = note. The e is silent and the o turns long.
road oa: rod + a = road. Sounds the same as rode, spelled o_e.
robe o_e: rob + e = robe. The e is silent and the o turns long.
rope o_e: Silent e makes the o long. Also in hope and slope.
show ow: Long o at the end of a word. sh, ow: four letters, two sounds.
snow ow: Long o at the end of a word. In now and cow, ow says another sound.
soap oa: Long o in the middle of a word. s, oa, p: four letters, three sounds.
stone o_e: Silent e makes the o long. Also in bone and phone.
toast oa: Long o in the middle of a word. Also in coast.
toe oe at the end says long o. Sounds the same as tow, spelled ow.
yellow ow: Long o at the end of a two-syllable word. Also in window.

Long u 24

blue ue: Says oo at the end of a word. Sounds the same as blew, spelled ew.
chew ew: Says oo at the end of a word.
cube u_e: Says you. cub + e = cube.
cue ue: Says you. Sounds the same as queue and the letter Q.
cute u_e: Says you. cut + e = cute.
few ew: Says you at the end of a word.
flew ew: Says oo. It is the past of fly, and sounds the same as flu.
flute u_e: Says oo, as in rule. Silent e makes the u long.
fruit ui says oo: the i is silent.
glue ue: Says oo at the end of a word. Also in clue.
grew ew: Says oo. It is the past of grow.
huge u_e: Says you. hug + e = huge, and the g turns soft.
human u: The u ends the first syllable, hu-man, and says you.
juice ui says oo, and the c is soft before e.
mule u_e: Says you. Silent e makes the u long.
music u: One u and no silent e, yet it is long and says you.
new ew: Sounds the same as knew. Americans mostly say oo here.
rescue ue: Says you at the end of a two-syllable word: res-cue.
rule u_e: Says oo, not you. Silent e makes the u long.
suit ui says oo: the i is silent.
true ue: Says oo at the end of a word.
tube u_e: tub + e = tube. Americans mostly say oo here, the British say you.
unit u: The u is the first syllable by itself, u-nit, and says you.
use u_e: Says you. us + e = use.

How this list was compiled: Own word choice and own notes. Checked on 2026-10-09. The long vowel in every word, each same-sound pair (tail and tale, road and rode, blue and blew), the words that break a pattern (have, give, come, bread) and the two ways of saying tube and new: the pronunciation given in the word's English Wiktionary entry, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cake and the same address for the other words. Each word sum (cap + e = cape, cot + a = coat) was read against both entries. What English teaching calls a long and a short vowel, with cub and cube as the pair for u: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_length. The letter names a, e, i, o and u: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet. Licence: own work

How it works

These long vowel flashcards put one word on the front, such as cake, rain or play. The back shows the letters that spell the long sound: a_e, ai, ay. The 120 words come in five sets, one for each vowel.

Read the full guide

Five sets, each in order of spelling

A set holds 24 words. Long a runs through a_e, ai and ay, then eight, they, great and baby. Long e has ee, ea, e_e and final y. Long i has i_e, igh, y and ie. Long o has o_e, oa, ow and oe. Long u has u_e, ue, ew and ui; its backs say whether the u sounds like you (cube) or oo (rule).

Print a set, or save a long vowel flashcards PDF

Pick a set, turn a card, then press the print button under it: 12 cards to a sheet of Letter or A4, so a set is 2 sheets and all 120 are 10. Printed double-sided, flipped on the long edge, a_e lands behind cake. For a PDF, choose Save as PDF in the print window.

Deal a printed set face up, sort it into piles by spelling, then turn the cards to check: a_e, ai, ay.
Tail and tale, road and rode, blue and blew: the backs name pairs that sound alike and are spelled differently.

Questions and answers

What is a long vowel?

The sound a vowel has in cake, tree, bike, bone and cube, which is also the letter's name. The sounds in cap, bed, pin, hop and cub are called short. Long u has a second sound, the oo of rule.

What are the long vowel spelling patterns?

This deck has three kinds. Silent e: a_e, e_e, i_e, o_e and u_e. Vowel teams such as ai, ay, ee, ea, igh, oa, ow, ue and ew. One vowel alone, as in baby, me, find, go and music.

Are these vowel sound flashcards for short vowels too?

No, every word here has a long vowel. Some backs show the short vowel word it grows from, such as cap + e = cape and cot + a = coat. Short vowel words are on the CVC flashcards.

Is y a long vowel?

At the end of a word, y stands in for one. In a one-syllable word it says long i: fly, sky, my, cry, try. At the end of happy, funny and puppy it says long e.