There are 12 pure vowel sounds in English. They are 'pure' because the tongue stays in one position — unlike diphthongs, which glide.
/iː/ — long ee
Spellings: e, i, ie, ea, ee.
- complete /kəmˈpliːt/, machine /məˈʃiːn/, peace /piːs/, sheet /ʃiːt/, ski /skiː/
/ɪ/ — short i
Spellings: i (most common). Also 'y' in some words.
- wind, inn, ship, ticket, finish, pyramid, system
/e/ — short e
Spellings: e, ea, u (in 'bury'), 'any/said'.
- belt, chest, bed, deck, head (no — that's /e/), bury, any, said
/æ/ — short a (cat)
Spellings: a.
- hand, magistrate, fan, glad, fact, anxious, blanket, camel
/ɑː/ — long aah
Spellings: ar, a (in 'father'-type words), as, au-
- hand-cart, scar, hardly, after, can't, craft, draft, graph, Islam, passport
/ɒ/ — short o
Spellings: o (mostly).
- foggy, spot, log, document, longitude, off, on, shop
/ɔː/ — long aw
Spellings: or, al, ar (after w), au, aw, wa, ou.
- sword, short, fortune, ashore, more, water, audience, law, court
/ʊ/ — short oo
Spellings: u, oo.
- actually, Buddhism, document, good, foot, woodland
/uː/ — long oo
Spellings: oo, o, ou, ui, ue, ew, u.
- tattoos, who, improve, youth, suitcase, argue, crew, mutiny, student
/ʌ/ — uh
Spellings: u, o, ou.
- drunk, gun, bus, study, function, one, cover, monthly, trouble, encourage
/ə/ — schwa (unstressed)
The most common sound in English. Spellings: many.
- account, water, government, percentage, calendar, color, doctor, mother
/ɜː/ — long er
Spellings: ir, ur, er, wor.
- first, sir, burn, purpose, urgent, deserted, network, workshop, research