Pronunciation of the letter “e”

 

 

Pronunciation of the letter “e”

 

 

Long ee Sound:

bee /biː/

see /siː/

tree /triː/

meet /miːt/

feel /fiːl/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Short e Sound:

bed /bɛd/

red /rɛd/

pen /pɛn/

when /wɛn/

let /lɛt/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silent e Pattern (Vowel-Consonant-E):

make /meɪk/

cake /keɪk/

like /laɪk/

date /deɪt/

cube /kjuːb/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ea Combination (varies between /iː/ and /ɛ/):

sea /siː/

bread /brɛd/

great /ɡreɪt/

head /hɛd/

break /breɪk/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ei Combination (varies between /iː/ and /eɪ/):

receive /rɪˈsiːv/

ceiling /ˈsiːlɪŋ/

neighbor /ˈneɪbə/

seize /siːz/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ie Combination (varies between /aɪ/ and /iː/):

die /daɪ/

pie /paɪ/

field /fiːld/

chief /tʃiːf/

believe /bɪˈliːv/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unstressed e Sound (reduced to schwa /ə/):

balance /ˈbæləns/

certain /ˈsɜːtən/

different /ˈdɪfərənt/

camera /ˈkæmərə/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ew Combination (often pronounced /juː/ or /uː/):

new /nuː/

few /fjuː/

grew /ɡruː/

dew /duː/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercises:

 

Exercise 1: Long ee Sound vs. Short e Sound

bee

bed

see

red

tree

pen

meet

let

feel

when

 

 

Answers:

/biː/

/bɛd/

/siː/

/rɛd/

/triː/

/pɛn/

/miːt/

/lɛt/

/fiːl/

/wɛn/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise 2: Silent e Pattern

make

cake

like

date

cube

 

Answers:

/meɪk/

/keɪk/

/laɪk/

/deɪt/

/kjuːb/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise 3:  ea and ei Combinations

sea

bread

great

receive

pie

ceiling

chief

neighbor

 

Answers:

/siː/

/brɛd/

/ɡreɪt/

/rɪˈsiːv/

/paɪ/

/ˈsiːlɪŋ/

/tʃiːf/

/ˈneɪbə/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercises for reading:

 

fee – feed – feet             beep – been – beet       meet – mean – meat

feel – fell – fell               seen – seek – seed        week – weep – wean

deep – deer – deed        keep – keen – kettle     cheer – cheap – cheat

beet – beep – beer         men – led – bed             pen – ten – text

 

 

The fee for the service was reasonable.

Have you ever beeped a car horn?

Let’s meet at the park tomorrow.

She has seen that movie before.

The deep water was perfect for swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

click herePronunciation of the letter “e”

click here The Phonics rules

click here The Alphabet names in English

click here The International Phonetic Alphabet symbols for English phonemes

click here About English Alphabet

click here Auditory Phonetics

click here Acoustic Phonetics

click here Articulatory Phonetics

click here English Phonetics

click here About Phonetics