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English Sounds & Spelling: English Sounds and Spelling (#2)

Dennis Oliver
English Sounds and Spelling #2:

Many languages have a sound like the English iy / sound
(the vowel sound in beat or beet). In languages that use
Roman (Latin) letters, this sound is often shown by the
letter i. In English, however, this sound is spelled in many
different ways.

Here are some common ones:

Spelling
Examples

 e
be, he, me, she, the, we, zero

ee
agree, bee, beet, bleed, breed, deed,
deep, fee, feed, feel, feet, flee, fleet,
foresee, glee, green, greet, heel, knee,
meet, need, peek, peel, peep, preen,
queen, reed, reek, reel, see, seed, seek,
seem, seen, seep, screen, sheep, sleet,
speech, speed, steel, steep, tee, teem,
teen, wheel

ea
bead, beak, beam, bean, beast, beat,
bleat, cheat, clean, cleat, cream,
dream, feast, feat, freak, gleam, heal,
heap, heat, knead, lean, leap, least,
meal, mean, meat, neat, pea, peak,
peal, peat, read, real, sea, seal, seam,
scream, sheath, steal, steam, stream,
tea, teak, team, veal

eCe*
eke, mete, scene, these, compete,
complete, concede, concrete, convene,
discrete, effete, mete, theme

eeCe
cheese, fleece, freeze, peeve, sleeve

eaCe
breathe, ease, eave, grease,
lease, peace, please, tease

ie
belief, chief, grief, lien, thief

ieCe
achieve, believe, niece, piece,
receive, relieve, reprieve, retrieve

ei
ceiling, either*, neither*

eiCe
conceive, perceive, receive

iiCe
chic, ski, machine

* C = consonant

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Special Notes:

1. The words either and neither are also
pronounced with the sound ai / (the
vowel sound in Ieyebuysky, and pie).
2.

Be careful!

Many words have the same sound, but
different spellings and meanings.

Examples:

bee / bee;
beat / beet;
feat / feet;
knead / need;
lean / lien;
meat / meet / mete;
peak / peek / pique;
peal / peel;
real / reel;
sea / see;
seam / seem;
scene / seen;
steal / steel

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