Small Group Manual 2019-2020

Six Syllable Types | Reading Rockets

8/27/18, 9)53 AM

Table 5.1. Summary of Six Types of Syllables in English Orthography

Syllable Type

Examples Definition

dap-ple hos-tel bev-er- age

A syllable with a short vowel, spelled with a single vowel letter ending in one or more consonants.

Closed

Vowel-Consonant- e (VC e )

com-pete des-pite A syllable with a long vowel, spelled with one vowel + one consonant + silent e .

pro-gram ta-ble re-cent aw-ful train-er con-geal spoil-age in-jur-i- ous con-sort char-ter drib-ble bea-gle lit-tle dam-age act-ive na-tion

A syllable that ends with a long vowel sound, spelled with a single vowel letter.

Open

Syllables with long or short vowel spellings that use two to four letters to spell the vowel. Diphthongs ou/ow and oi/oy are included in this category.

Vowel Team (including diphthongs)

Vowel- r ( r -controlled)

A syllable with er, ir, or, ar, or ur . Vowel pronunciation often changes before /r/.

An unaccented final syllable that contains a consonant before /l/, followed by a silent e .

Consonant- le (C- le )

Leftovers: Odd and Schwa syllables

Usually final, unaccented syllables with odd spellings.

Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2009). Excerpted from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS): Spellography for Teachers: How English Spelling Works (Module 3). Boston: Sopris West. For more information on Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) visit the Sopris West LETRS website .

Reprints For any reprint requests, please contact the author or publisher listed.

Related Topics Phonemic Awareness Phonics and Decoding Spelling and Word Study "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." — Jorge Luis Borges

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/six-syllable-types

Page 4 of 4

©Canyons School District

143