Vowel Digraphs & Trigraphs

Outcomes

  • Ai, oi
    The digraphs ai and oi are virtually never used at the end of English words. Example words: rain, wait, train, paid, afraid, oil, join, coin, point, soil
    Examples
  • Ay, oy
    Ay and oy are used for those sounds at the end of words and at the end of syllables. Example words: day, play, say, way, stay, boy, toy, enjoy, annoy
    Examples
  • A-e
    Example words: made, came, same, take, safe
    Examples
  • I-e
    Example words: five, ride, like, time, side
    Examples
  • O-e
    Example words: home, those, woke, hope, hole
    Examples
  • Ee
    Example words: see, tree, green, meet, week
    Examples
  • Ea (/i:/)
    Example words: sea, dream, meat, each, read (present tense)
    Examples
  • Er (/ə/)
    Example words: (unstressed schwa sound): better, under, summer, winter, sister
    Examples
  • Oo (/u:/)
    Very few words end with the letters oo, although the few that do are often words that primary children in year 1 will encounter, for example, zoo. Example words: food, pool, moon, zoo, soon
    Examples
  • Oo (/ʊ/)
    Example words: book, took, foot, wood, good
    Examples
  • Oa
    The digraph oa is very rare at the end of an English word. Example words: boat, coat, road, coach, goal
    Examples
  • Ou
    The only common English word ending in ou is you. Example words: out, about, mouth, around, sound
    Examples
  • Ow (/aʊ/), ow (/əʊ/), ue, ew
    Both the /u:/ and /ju:/ ('oo' and 'yoo') sounds can be spelt as u-e, ue and ew. If words end in the /oo/ sound, ue and ew are more common spellings than oo. Example words: now, how, brown, down, town, own, blow, snow, grow, show, blue, clue, true, rescue, Tuesday, new, few, grew, flew, drew, threw
    Examples
  • Air
    Example words: air, fair, pair, hair, chair
    Examples
  • Ear
    Example words: dear, hear, beard, near, year
    Examples
  • Words ending -y (/i:/ or /ɪ/)
    Example words: very, happy, funny, party, family
    Examples
  • New consonant spellings ph and wh
    The /f/ sound is not usually spelt as ph in short everyday words (e.g. fat, fill, fun). Example words: dolphin, alphabet, phonics, elephant, when, where, which, wheel, while
    Examples
  • Compound words
    Compound words are two words joined together. Each part of the longer word is spelt as it would be if it were on its own. Example words: football, playground, farmyard, bedroom, blackberry
    Examples