Summary of Six Types of Syllables in English Orthography
Syllable Type |
Examples |
Definition |
Closed |
dap-ple |
A syllable with a short vowel, spelled with a single vowel letter ending in one or more consonants. |
Vowel-Consonant-e(VCe) |
com-pete |
A syllable with a long vowel, spelled with one vowel + one consonant + silent e. |
Open |
pro-gram |
A syllable that ends with a long vowel sound, spelled with a single vowel letter. |
Vowel Team |
aw-ful |
Syllables with long or short vowel spellings that use two to four letters to spell the vowel. Diphthongs ou/ow and oi/oyare included in this category. |
Vowel-r (r-controlled) |
in-jur-i-ous |
A syllable with er, ir, or, ar, or ur. Vowel pronunciation often changes before /r/. |
Consonant-le(C-le) |
drib-ble |
An unaccented final syllable that contains a consonant before /l/, followed by a silent e. |
Leftovers: Odd and Schwa syllables |
dam-age |
Usually final, unaccented syllables with odd spellings. |