Word Study

The Seven Syllable Types:

1. closed syllables

- have a short vowel sound

- end in a consonant

examples: hit, glum, mag-net, con-test, muf-fin


2. open syllables

- end in a vowel

- the vowel sound is long

examples: ba-by, mu-sic, o-pen, me


3. silent e syllables

- end in a silent "e"

- have two vowels, but not side by side

- the first vowel sound is long

examples: con-fuse, com-plete, ex-plode


4. consonant-le syllables

- always have 1 consonant followed by and " l " and an "e"

- always just part of a word and never the first syllable in a word

- have a schwa vowel sound between the consonant and the "l"

examples: pur-ple, twin-kle, cir-cle

 

5. R-controlled syllables

- the "r" controls or changes the vowel sound

- have one vowel followed by an "r"

- the vowel sound is neither long or short

examples: per-fume, doc-tor, flirt, lan-tern


6. vowel team (Digraph) syllables

- have two vowels together

- usually have a long vowel sound, but, sometimes can have a short sound

- "y"  and "w"  can count as vowels

examples: day, tree, meat, oat-meal, snow, tie, head

 

7. vowel team (Diphthong) syllables

- have two vowels together

- have a special or unusual vowel sound

- often have these sounds:

sounds: /aw/ saw; /ow/ cow; /oi/ oil; /oo/ book; /oo/ moon

examples: aw-ful, chow-der,poi-son, Tues-day