Short I sound words
Short I is a lax vowel: the tongue is high but relaxed and the sound is clipped. Many learners substitute a long ee, turning ship into sheep. Keep the jaw slightly more open and the sound short and loose.
Accent
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The words
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The most common sound in English, hiding in every unstressed syllable. Learn to hear the schwa.
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The /eɪ/ sound in day, rain and eight, spelled six different ways. Train your ear to all of them.
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The long ee sound in see, meat and field. Hear the tense vowel across all its spellings.
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Ship or sheep, full or fool, pull or pool. Hear the tense and lax vowel pairs side by side.
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Vowels that glide from one sound to another: boy, house, coin, near. Hear all eight diphthongs.
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The flat short a in cat, bad and hand. A vowel that does not exist in most other languages.
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Keep practising
Browse every practice list or the word index, hear two accents back to back on Compare, or test your ear with the listening quiz.
To read the rules behind these words, see the pronunciation guides — including silent letters, word stress and American vs British. Or hear each accent on its own page: American, British, Australian.