Search Vowel Digraph Educational Resources

A-E-I-O-U (and sometimes Y) are the most abundant letters in the English language. The Learning Library provides a handful of vowel digraphs resources that center these essential letters and their sounds. New learners will master vital vowels with the catchy song videos, vibrantly illustrated worksheets, clear-cut lesson plans and more.

Some letters of the alphabet have more than one sound. Vowels already have at least two sounds with the long and short vowel sounds. Sometimes, though, they can make another sound as part of a vowel digraph.

The word digraph is made up of two morphemes that are greek in origin. The first, di, means two. The second, graph, refers to something that has been written down. We can infer, then, that a vowel digraph is when two vowels are written together.

Many digraphs make a single sound:

• EE - feet, beep
• OO - book, hook
• OO - moon, cool
• AI - pain, gain
• AY - slay, gray
• AW - paw, law
• EA - head, bread
• EA - each, seat
• IE - thief, chief
• OA - boat, float

This is an important concept because vowel digraphs often produce an altogether new sound.

This sound a vowel digraph makes is called a diphthong. The di, again, means two. The second part, phthong, means sound. Below are some vowel digraphs that make a sound with two parts:

• OY and OI as in coin and toy
• OW and OU as in bow and found
• OO as in cool and tool

Not all diphthongs require a digraph, though. The long A sound and the long I are both considered diphthongs because you have to move your mouth in order to make the sound.

For students, learning these digraphs is almost like finding out there are more than the 26 letters they were originally taught. Practicing with the resources provided by Education.com may help your students be able to identify these new sounds easily.