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How To Teach Long E Words & FREE Word List

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Long e words are quite tricky to teach because there are so many different ways to spell the long e sound and there aren’t any rules or generalizations. With long e spellings, students must practice and be exposed to the words until they have mastered them. I’m going to break down each of the eight ways to spell the long e sound to help you understand and teach long e to your students.

Looking for a long e word list? You can download the list pictured by signing up below. If you don’t see the signup form, click here.

long e word list

Eight Ways To Spell Long E

The long e sound can be represented by 8 different spelling patterns:

  1. e – be
  2. e_e – eve
  3. ee – meet
  4. ea – beach
  5. ei – protein
  6. ie – piece
  7. ey – key
  8. y – candy

The majority of these are vowel teams, so students should already know the open, silent e, and vowel team syllables. Students should also be able to find the base word, as some of these rules apply to the base word even if it has a suffix.

Spelling Generalizations for Long E

E alone

At the end of an open syllable, e makes the long e sound (says its name) and this is the most common way of spelling the long e sound. Some examples include be, even, and veto. Sometimes ee or ea are used at the end of a word (tea) so it’s not a rule that the long e sound at the end of a syllable is always spelled with just e. Students must understand how to split words into syllables and know what open syllables are.

E_E Spelling Pattern

The e silent e spelling pattern is actually not that common. This one is usually in the middle of a base word. Examples include eve, delete, and extreme. Of course, students should be confident with the magic e syllable.

EE and EA Vowel Teams

EE and EA sometimes spell the long e sound in the beginning, middle, or end of a base word. Neither one is more common, so these will simply have to be memorized.

One trick is to use a guide word with each spelling when introducing these. So you would introduce ee with the word tree, and ea with the word meat. Then when your students ask which spelling to use for a long e word, you can say ‘/ee/ like tree/meat’.

Some teachers also group them as wet/meal words (ea) and nature words (ee).

Y

Y usually spells the long e sound at the end of a word when it follows a consonant and the word has more than one syllable. This spelling of long e is actually the most common. Examples include heavy and baby. It also makes the long e sound when it comes before another vowel, as in the word embryo.

IE, EI, and EY Vowel Teams

These are the least common ways to spell the long e sound.

The long e sound spelled ie is often preceded and followed by consonants. It’s usually in the middle of the word but can be at the end. Examples include brief, relief, and rookie.

The long e sound spelled ey is usually at the end of a base word. Examples include valley and monkey.

The ei spelling of long e is the least common. Examples include seize and protein.

words with long e sound worksheets and activities

Tips For Teaching The Long E Sound

When you start teaching long e, you really have to focus on repeated exposure, lots of practice, and homophones. Teach one spelling pattern at a time, and once one is mastered you can add in another. It’s much easier to learn how to read these than to learn how to spell. Since they all sound the same and can appear in the same place, choosing the right spelling pattern can be tricky.

Use guide words to help students decide on the spelling pattern.

This will still require you cueing them but at least you’re not providing the answer without them thinking about it.

Decide on a guide word for each spelling pattern. This will be the word you cue your students with when they are not sure how to spell a word with the long e sound.

For example, use the word tree for long e spelled ee, meat for long e spelled ea, chief for long e spelled ie, and baby for long e spelled y. When students ask which spelling to use, you say ‘long e like in the word baby’ or whichever word has the correct spelling.

Students should still first break the word into its syllables, and try to eliminate some spelling options. So for example, if they are trying to spell the word begin, they should know it won’t be with ey or y because those appear at the end of a base word. If they still ask, you can cue them with something like ‘it’s the end of a syllable so what do you think can go there?’ Guide them to choosing the correct spelling pattern.

Also, because there are multiple options expect students to get them wrong sometimes, and tell them this! It’s ok if they make mistakes as long as it’s another valid spelling option and not something that doesn’t follow any rules. Through repeated exposure and practice they will eventually internalize the correct spelling pattern for words.

Lots of practice and repeated exposure are the name of the game with the long e sound. Do a variety of activities repeating the words as many times as you can.

Long E Words Activities & Lesson Ideas

Phoneme Grapheme Mapping – This is a great activity that really isolates the phonograms for students to practice. You can get the Phonics & Spelling Through Grapheme Mapping book and follow the long e lesson, or use my long e word list to do the same activity using sound boxes. See below for an example.

vowel phoneme grapheme mapping
phoneme grapheme mapping long e words

Create short stories to help anchor the spelling patterns. – Group similar words together and create a short story using them to help students remember them. This is similar to the ee and ea group images from above with the wet and nature words. For example, with ea, you could say ‘John drank tea on the beach while an eagle flew by’ or something like that. Draw a picture or create your own poster with images of words with this spelling pattern and put it up in your room.

SOS – If you don’t already know what Simultaneous Oral Spelling is, then check out this post here. I love this multisensory spelling method for practicing spelling. And you can do this whole class or one on one making it really easy to use in any setting.

multisensory spelling activity

Dictation – This is another fantastic activity but I would do this after you have spent some time on long e because it is harder for some students. Also when dictating words, give students a clue about the spelling such as telling them it’s a vowel team or open syllable. I often dictate words that all have the same spelling pattern to avoid these problems.

Sorting – Sorting is always a good idea when you have multiple options for spelling. You can play matching games like memory, just sort them into piles/columns, or create any game that requires sorting by spelling pattern. This builds phonemic awareness so it’s always a good activity for all students.

The worksheet below is included in my Long E Word Work worksheets and activities, along with several other sorting activities.

ee and ea words sorting activity
long e word sort worksheet

You can also sort by color coding the vowel team or spelling pattern in the words. I took the list from the SOS activity, then had my student highlight each vowel team in a specific color to more visually show the groups.

I include 3 different sorting activities for the long e sound in my Long E Worksheets & Activities set.

Picture cue cards – Create visual graphics of tricky words, homophones, and homographs. These picture cues really help students remember which pattern to use. I suggest you make these using index cards and keep them in a baggie or box for reference. See an example below (it’s for a long o sound but you get the idea).

Games – Of course, I always include games because it’s just so easy to add a stack of flashcards to any game and make it educational! Use an easy to play board game where students need to pick up a card on their turn and add a task like reading the word aloud and sorting it, or asking another player to spell it, or even something as simple as having them air write the word after reading it aloud. Or print off a teacher-made game from my Long E Activities set.

long e words game printable activity
long e spin, read, and write game
long e roll, read, and write game

Constant Review – Remember to keep these spelling patterns in constant review after they are learned, so they are not forgotten. Using a sound wall or phonogram drills are great ways to do this without it taking up a lot of time.

Check out my Long E Word Work Worksheets & Activities resource in my TPT store for ready to use long e activities, reference sheets and posters, and printable worksheets.

long e word work activities

Want to remember this? Save How To Teach Long E Words to your favorite Pinterest board!

how to teach long e words the best tips and activities pin image

If you’re looking for more tips on teaching reading to struggling learners, check out these other posts:

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10 Comments

  1. I am looking for where to subscribe to your email list for the freebie shop. I have looked on multiple pages for where to type my email and I am not seeing a space for that…I have also checked the home page. I tried to click the freebie page directly, but it did not appear there either. I would really like access to the freebie shop, thank you!

  2. Hi,
    I am coaching an adult man who is Hispanic but has to learn to read and give speeches in English. When we rehearse he will practice a word over and over, but when at the podium his nervousness takes over and he forgets everything we practiced. His biggest problem seems to be wanting to use a long e or short e sound for words with an a sound.

    Other than continuous practice, do you have any ideas to help him?

    1. Hi Louise. As a native Spanish speaker, I can relate to this. I don’t think there is really anything you can do other than lots of practice. He has to improve his confidence which will only happen with more practice.

  3. Rues, though thwre are exceptions:
    e_e – eve: e at end of word vowel before it long, even if consonants between them.
    ee – meet: two vowels together , often 1st one long and second one silent
    ea – beach: see above
    ei – protein: see above
    ie – piece: this is an exception in that one rule above applies and other doesn’t. E at end makes vowel before it long. But in the two vowel combo, the exception is 1st vowel silent.
    ey – key: y can sonetimes pretend to be a vowel which is why the vowel before it is long.
    y – candy: ?

  4. Hi! I am so glad to have come across your site. I am teaching a 19-year-old man from Afghanistan how to read and write English. Your resources are great because (a) they come with lots of instruction which, as an untrained volunteer, I really value, and (b) they are not condescending. For an adult learner, they are perfect. Thanks again for making this available.

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