Diphthongs, Modified Vowels and Vowel Digraphs


"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6


Diphthongs, Modified Vowels and Vowel Digraphs

A diphthong is two vowel sounds in one syllable. The diphthong ow and ou make the ow sound as in cow.
1. Words with diphthongs ow and ou
blouse	cow	dowel	out	crown	ouch
house	bow	towel	pout	clown	pouch
mouse	how	vowel	about	frown	couch
found	now	growl	scout	down	tower
hound	wow	our	shout	gown	power
pound	plow	hour	snout	town	flower
round	owl	flour	sprout	mouth	shower
sound	fowl	loud	route	south	mountain
ground	howl	proud	brown	count	thousand
When the consonant r after the vowel a, it changes the sound of the vowel as in ark.
2. Modified vowels: är words
bar	star	hark	cart	farmer	barber
car	bard	lark	dart	harm	garden
far	card	mark	mart	alarm	harbor
gar	guard	park	part	charm	harness
jar	hard	shark	tart	arch	harvest
mar	yard	spark	chart	march	market
par	ark	barn	start	carp	pardon
tar	bark	yarn	arm	harp	regard
spar	dark	art	farm	sharp	sparkle
A diphthong is two vowels sounds in one syllable. The diphthongs oi and oy make the oi sound as in oil.
3. Words with diphthongs oi and oy
oil	soil	point	moist	toy	enjoy
boil	broil	voice	noise	coin	destroy
coil	spoil	choice	boy	join	loyal
fail	joint	hoist	joy	poison	royalty
When the consonant r comes after the vowel o, it changes the sound of the vowel as in for. The or sound is marked like this: côrn.
4. Modified vowel ôr words
Lord	fort	core	snore	torch	north
door	port	more	store	born	acorn
floor	short	sore	horse	corn	corner
fork	sport	tore	storm	horn	organ
stork	forty	score	porch	thorn	uniform
A vowel digraph has two vowels that make one sound. The digraph oo makes the sound of oo as in zoo.
5. Words with the vowel digraph oo as in zoo
broom	moose	soon	pool	zoo	smooth
room	noodle	spoon	spool	shoot	food
hoop	poodle	roost	stool	roof	balloon
loop	too	rooster	school	proof	igloo
goose	moon	tool	boot	booth	raccoon
loose	moon	fool	root	tooth	snooze
A vowel digraph has two vowels that make one sound. The digraph oo makes the sound of oo as in look.
6. Words with the vowel digraph oo as in book; o, u, and ou can say oo
book	brook	good	wool	wolf	bull
cook	crook	hood	woolen	wolves	full
hook	shook	stood	foot	put	pull
look	cookie	wood	soot	bush	could
nook	booklet	woody	unhook	push	would
took	brooklet	wooden	lookout	cushion	should
When the consonant r comes after the vowel e, it changes the sound of the vowel as in herd. The er sound is a combination of the schwa (ə) and r sounds.
7. Modified vowel er words
herd	sister	circle	birthday	turkey	early
germ	cracker	circus	thirteen	purple	earn
term	hammer	bird	thirty	hurry	learn
fern	pitcher	third	fur	nurse	earth
eternal	rocker	girl	curb	purse	word
verse	water	firm	church	burst	work
serve	zipper	squirrel	injure	hurt	world
person	fir	dirt	sure	curtain	worm
father	sir	shirt	curl	turtle	worry
mother	stir	skirt	burn	heard	worship
brother	giraffe	first	turn	pearl	worth
The vowel o makes different sounds and one of them is the sound of ô as in dôg.
8. Words with the sound of ô as in dog
off	moth	claw	draw	crawl	taught
dog	belong	small	straw	shawl	fault
fog	strong	stall	thaw	sprawl	ought
hog	wrong	talk	dawn	faucet	brought
log	ball	walk	fawn	awning	fought
frog	call	stalk	lawn	awful	brought
smog	fall	salt	yawn	auto	thought
boss	hall	malt	brawn	because	autumn
toss	mall	law	drawn	caught	haughty
cross	tall	paw	hawk	daughter	laundry
cloth	wall	saw	brawl	naughty	cough (f)
You have learned the sound of är as in arm. These letters also make the sound of are as in squâre.
9. Modified âre words
bare	blare	fair	pear	cherry	aware
care	flare	hair	tear	their	barrel
dare	share	pair	wear	where	dairy
hare	carry	stair	berry	there	errand
rare	marry	chair	ferry	carrot	error
ware	air	bear	merry	parrot	square
The letter c usually has the sound of s when it is followed by the vowels e, i, or y. This is called the soft sound of c. Likewise, the soft sound of the letter g makes the j sound when it is followed by e, i, or y.
10. The soft sounds of the letters c and g
ice	juice	glance	necklace	badge	hedge
dice	base	city	circle	large	pledge
lice	face	cymbals	circus	barge	engine
mice	lace	ounce	age	charge	giraffe
nice	pace	bounce	cage	gem	hinge
rice	race	pounce	gage	ridge	danger
vice	brace	fence	page	bridge	giant
slice	place	pencil	rage	gum	orange
spice	space	prince	sage	gypsy	range
price	trace	lettuce	stage	Egypt	change
twice	chance	celery	wage	wedge	manger
A vowel digraph has two vowels that makes one sound. The digraph ea makes the sound of e as in head.
11. Words with the vowel digraph ea which has the short vowel e sound
dead	dread	thread	meant	threat	sweater
head	spread	deaf	weapons	breath	weather
lead	stead	breakfast	peasant	death	headache
read	steady	health	pleasant	feather	treasure
ready	instead	wealth	pleasure	heather	measure
bread	tread	cleanser	sweat	leather	meadow