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Many languages have a sound
that's similar to the English
/ ey
/ sound (the
vowel sound in say and they).
In languages
that use Roman (Latin) letters, this
sound is usually a "pure"
vowel and
is often shown by the letter e. In English, / ey
/ is
actually
two sounds (a combination of "pure e" and "i") and
it has many common spellings:
|
spelling |
|
examples |
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|
ay |
|
bay, clay, day,
gay, gray, hay, lay,
may,
pay, play, pray,
say, slay, spray,
stay, stray,
sway, tray, way |
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ai |
|
bail, bait,
braid, chain, daily, fail, frail,
gain, grain, hail, laid,
lain, maid, mail,
maim, main, nail, paid, pail, pain,
paint,
plain, quail, quaint, raid, rail,
rain,
sail, slain, stain, strain, tail,
train, trait,
vain, wail,
waist,
wait,
attain,
complain,
detain, entertain, explain, refrain |
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aC*e |
|
ace, ache*, age, ate, bake,
bale, bane, base,
came, cane,
cape,
cave,
date, face, fade,
fake, fame, fate, faze,
gale, game, gave,
gaze, glade, glaze, grace, grade,
grate,
graze, hale,
hate, haze, jade, kale, lace,
lake, lame, lane, late,
made, male, mane,
mate, maze,
name,
pace,
pale, pane, pate,
pave, phase, plane, quake, race, rate,
rave,
sale, same, sane,
save, scale, space, spade,
stake,
stale,
take,
tale, tame, tape, vane,
wade, wane
* ch,
here, acts as a single consonant (/ k /)
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ey |
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grey*, hey, obey, prey, they
* also spelled gray
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ei /
eigh
|
|
rein, skein,
veil, vein
deign, feign, reign
eight, freight,
neigh, sleigh, weigh |
* C = consonant
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Special Note:
Be careful! Many words have the same sound, but
different
spellings and meanings--for example,
ate / eight; bail / bale;
faze / phase; hail / hale;
lain / lane;
made / maid; mail
/ male; main / mane;
pail / pale; pain / pane; plain
/ plane; pray / prey;
rain / reign / rein; sail / sale;
slay / sleigh;
tail / tale;
vane / vein; wait / weight; way
/ weigh
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