What Are Vowels? A Simple Guide for Kids + Free PDF

Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y. All the other letters are consonants. A vowel is also a kind of sound. When you say it, nothing gets in the way of the air. Every word has at least one vowel sound. In writing, that sound is spelled with a vowel letter, or with a y doing the job.

cat has the vowel a. sun has u. my has no a, e, i, o or u, so the y does the vowel’s job.

Our free vowel and consonant worksheets start with a picture sort. An A-Z chart and the answer keys come last. A vowel maze and a board game come as two extra PDFs. 6 pages, free, no signup, no email.

Jump to: the 5 vowels · when y is a vowel · vowels vs consonants · how to teach them · free PDF

Page 1 of the free PDF. Ten pictures to cut out and sort by their first letter.

What is a vowel?

A vowel is a letter, and it’s also a sound. The vowel letters are a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y.

Here’s how the sound works. Say /aaa/. Your mouth is open and nothing touches. Now say /mmm/. Your lips close and stop the air. /aaa/ is a vowel sound. /mmm/ is a consonant sound.

Every word has at least one vowel sound. Every part of a word you can clap (ap-ple, um-brel-la) has one too.

The letters come first for kids. Odd cases like my make sense once they have the sound idea.

The 5 vowels: a, e, i, o and u

Five letters are always vowels. They are a, e, i, o and u. Every one of them has a short sound. Each one also has a sound where it says its own name.

Vowel	Its short sound	It says its name
a	apple	acorn
e	egg	eagle
i	igloo	ice
o	octopus	ocean
u	umbrella	unicorn

In unicorn, u says its name, you. That name starts with a /y/ sound.

Most children learn which letters are vowels in kindergarten. Many classrooms show the vowels in red and the consonants in blue, the way our letter tiles do it. In the alphabet the vowels sit at 1, 5, 9, 15 and 21.

When is y a vowel?

Y is a vowel when it makes a vowel sound. It’s a consonant when it says its own sound at the start of a word or a word part.

At the start of a word, y is a consonant. It says /y/, as in yes, yak and yo-yo.
At the end of a short word with no other vowel, y says long i. You hear it in my, fly, sky and cry. More words in y at the end of a short word.
At the end of a word with two or more parts you can clap, y usually says ee. You hear it in baby, happy and bunny. More words in y at the end.

Y also says short i later, in the middle of a few words like gym. It teams up with a vowel in day, boy and key. Those are vowel teams.

Most programs teach y as a vowel in 1st grade.

Is w a vowel?

Usually not. W is a consonant at the start of a word, as in web and wig. After a vowel, it is part of the vowel’s spelling, as in saw, new and cow. That is the same job y does in day and boy, so some programs call w a vowel there.

Vowels and consonants: what’s the difference?

Every letter that isn’t a vowel is a consonant. That makes 21 consonants and 5 vowels. Y is counted with the consonants, and it can still do a vowel’s job.

The 21 consonants: b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z

You can feel the difference in your mouth. For a vowel, nothing touches. Try /aaa/ and the o in octopus. For a consonant, the air is stopped or squeezed. Your lips do it for /m/ and /b/. Your teeth help for /f/. Your tongue does it for /t/ and /l/. /h/ is just a puff of air. It’s still a consonant.

In dog, d and g are consonants and o is the vowel in the middle. Reading starts on short three-letter words built like that.

Letter or sound? One starts with the letter o. But you hear /w/ first. Hour and honest start with h. The h is silent, so you hear a vowel first. Sort by the first letter on paper. Talk about the sound out loud.

One vowel letter, many sounds

Each vowel letter can make more than one sound. That’s what makes vowels the tricky part of reading.

The short sound, in cat, bed, pig, dog and sun. See short and long vowels.
The name sound, in cake and bike. See long vowel words.
Two letters for one sound, in rain and boat. See vowel teams.
An r after the vowel, in car and bird. See bossy r.
The lazy “uh”, in banana. See schwa.

Those five vowel letters spell about 20 vowel sounds in English. How you count, and your accent, changes the number.

Start with one short vowel. Add the others slowly, never two new ones in the same week. See which letters to teach first.

How to teach vowels at home (5 minutes)

Five minutes a day is enough, and most of it can be a game.

Red for vowels. Your child writes their name and colors the vowels red (page 4 of the PDF).
Feel test. Say /aaa/, then /mmm/. Ask, “Did anything touch?”
Picture sort. Does the picture’s word start with a vowel? Sort the ten pictures on page 1.
Missing vowel. Page 3 shows a cat over c _ t. Cut and cot are words too. Only one matches the picture.
Hop or step. Play our Vowel Hop game. Draw a letter card and say its sound. Vowel? Hop 2. Consonant? Hop 1. Or try the vowel maze, where your child steps only on vowels.

Our reading games sound out every letter and have your child pick the missing letter, ages 3 to 8, no ads, offline.

Free vowel and consonant worksheets (PDF)

You’ll start with the activities. The A-Z chart to keep and the answer keys sit at the end.

Page 1: vowel or consonant? A picture sort to cut and glue.
Page 2: color the vowels red and the consonants blue to find a hidden picture.
Page 3: fill in the missing vowel under 15 pictures.
Page 4: when is y a vowel? Match eight pictures to y’s three sounds. Then color the vowels in your name.
Page 5: an A-Z chart with the vowels in red and the consonants in blue.
Page 6: answer keys.

Page 5 of the free PDF.

Stick page 5 on the fridge. Download the free PDF. No signup, no email. The maze and the game are separate PDFs in the box at the top of this post.

Questions parents ask

What is a vowel definition for kids? A vowel is a letter whose sound comes out with nothing in the way. The vowels are a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y.

What are the 5 vowels? A, e, i, o and u. Y counts too when it makes a vowel sound, as in my and baby. Together they spell about 20 vowel sounds.

What are 7 vowels? Some people add y and w to the five. Both help spell vowel sounds, as in my and saw. Only a, e, i, o and u are always vowels.

How do you explain vowels to a child? Say that vowels are the letters whose sound comes out with nothing in the way. Every word needs one. Then have your child color the vowels in their name red.

Do kindergarteners know vowels? Most learn the vowel letters and their short sounds in kindergarten. Y as a vowel usually comes in 1st grade.

When would “y” not be a vowel? At the start of a word or syllable. There it says /y/, as in yes, yellow and yo-yo.

What is the opposite of a vowel? A consonant. That is every letter that isn’t a vowel, like b, m and t.

The takeaways

The vowels are a, e, i, o and u, and sometimes y. Every other letter is a consonant. There are 21 of them, y included.
A vowel sound comes out with nothing in the way. A consonant sound is stopped or squeezed by your lips, teeth or tongue.
Every word has a vowel sound. In my and fly, y does that job.
Y is a consonant at the start of a word (yes). At the end it is a vowel (my, baby).
W is usually a consonant. After a vowel it helps spell the sound, as in saw and cow.
Each vowel makes more than one sound. Teach one at a time.

After your child knows the five vowels, their sounds come next. Start with short and long vowels.

Sources

Merriam-Webster. The Truth About ‘Y’: It’s Mostly a Vowel.
DSF Literacy Resources. The 44 Sounds (Phonemes) of English. Via Reading Rockets.
Reading Universe. Short Vowels Skill Explainer.
Reading Universe. Expert Answer: The Connection Between Speech and Print (Louisa Moats).
Cambridge Dictionary. vowel.
Carnegie Mellon University. The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (word checks).