Vowels and Consonants

A0–A1 · BeginnerEnglish Basics

Learn the difference between vowels and consonants and see how they work in English words.

What you'll learn

  • The five main vowel letters
  • What consonants are
  • When Y can act like a vowel
  • How to find vowels in simple words

Two groups of letters

The 26 letters of the English alphabet can be divided into two main groups: vowels and consonants.

Vowel letters

AEIOU

Consonant letters

BCDFGHJKLMNPQRSTVWXYZ

Y is usually listed as a consonant letter, but in some words it represents a vowel sound — for example my, gym, and happy. More on that below.

English has five main vowel letters — but those letters can represent many different vowel sounds. Letters and sounds aren't the same thing, as you'll see later on this page.

Vowels in words

Most English words contain at least one vowel letter. The coral letter below is the vowel.

cat
bed
sit
dog
sun

More than one vowel

A word can contain more than one vowel letter.

namehouseradiobeautiful

Good to know: two vowel letters next to each other don't always represent two separate spoken vowel sounds. Spelling and pronunciation aren't always one-to-one — we'll come back to this in Letters vs sounds .

What are consonants?

All alphabet letters except A, E, I, O and U are normally classified as consonant letters. Tap the vowel letters in each word below to check yourself.

Tap the vowel letters in "BOOK"

Tap the vowel letters in "DESK"

Tap the vowel letters in "PLANT"

Is Y a vowel or a consonant?

Y is normally treated as a consonant letter in the alphabet.

At the beginning of words, Y behaves like a consonant:

yesyellowyou

But inside or at the end of words, Y often represents a vowel sound:

mygymhappy

Letters vs sounds

Letters and sounds are not the same thing. English spelling doesn't always have one letter for one sound.

A:catnameThe letter A doesn't sound the same in both words.
O:hothomeAgain, the same letter can represent different sounds.
bookhas two O letters — that doesn't mean it has two separate "O sounds".

Practice

Exercise 1 · Vowel or consonant?

Is "A" a vowel or a consonant?

Is "T" a vowel or a consonant?

Is "E" a vowel or a consonant?

Is "M" a vowel or a consonant?

Is "O" a vowel or a consonant?

Is "R" a vowel or a consonant?

Exercise 2 · Find the vowels

Tap the vowel letters in "CAT"

Tap the vowel letters in "HOUSE"

Tap the vowel letters in "FISH"

Tap the vowel letters in "APPLE"

Tap the vowel letters in "MUSIC"

Exercise 3 · Which word?

Which word contains the vowel letter O?

Which word contains two vowel letters?

Exercise 4 · Sort the letters

B
A
T
E
M
O
D
I
R
K
U
G
P

0 / 13 sorted

Quick challenge

Five quick questions to check what stuck.

Question 1 / 5

Score: 0/0

How many main vowel letters are there in English?

You learned

  • English has five main vowel letters: A, E, I, O and U.
  • The other alphabet letters are normally consonants.
  • Y can sometimes represent a vowel sound.
  • Letters and sounds are not always the same thing.