Vowel Digraphs & Diphthongs Teaching Resources
Explore vowel digraphs lists and worksheets and vowel diphthongs games, activities and more — all created by teachers for teachers like you!
Aligned with the Australian English V9 curriculum, the resources in this collection were designed with your lesson plans — and your students — in mind. Best of all, each digital and printable resource has undergone a thorough review by the expert teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure it's classroom-ready.
New to teaching this section of the curriculum? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including definitions you can use with your students to explain each of these phonics concepts.
What Is a Vowel Digraph?
Introducing vowel digraphs to your class for the first time? Here's a simple definition to explain their meaning.
Vowel digraphs are groups of two or more vowels that work together to make a specific sound. These vowels work just like a sports team or a team of superheroes, joining forces to create new sounds.
You may also hear these called vowel teams.
What Is a Vowel Diphthong and How Is It Different From a Vowel Digraph?
If a vowel digraph is the same as a vowel team, does that mean it's the same as a vowel diphthong, too?
The short answer is not necessarily!
The longer answer? Digraphs and diphthongs don't just have the 'di' prefix in common. They're also both names for combinations of vowels found in words.
In fact, a diphthong is a type of digraph!
But these two building blocks of the English language have some key differences that are worth visiting before you dive into teaching them.
Here are their key differences.
Vowel Digraphs
When two vowels that are side-by-side in a word work together to represent a single, specific sound or phoneme, it's called a 'vowel digraph' or a 'vowel team.'
When it comes to vowel teams or digraphs:
- The vowels in the team create a single, unified sound.
- They often represent long vowel sounds, short vowel sounds or other specific vowel sounds.
Examples:
- ai in rain (pronounced as a long a sound)
- oa in boat (pronounced as a long o sound)
Vowel Diphthongs
Vowel diphthongs are pairs of adjacent vowels that combine to produce what's called a glide or a blending of two distinct vowel sounds within a single syllable.
When it comes to vowel diphthongs:
- The pronunciation starts with the sound of the first vowel and glides into the sound of the second vowel without a clear break between them.
- They often create a unique sound that's different from the individual vowel sounds.
Examples:
- oi in coin (the o sound glides into the i sound, rather than them being separate sounds)
- ou in cloud (the o sound glides into the u sound, rather than them being separate sounds)
Common Vowel Digraphs to Teach Your Students
We have already touched on some vowel digraphs or teams, but if you need a handy list of examples to share with your students, we've got you covered! Here are some of the more common vowel teams we teach our students, plus some examples of words with each digraph.
ai
- This vowel team makes the long a sound.
- Examples include rain, train, pain, sail and mail.
ea
- This vowel digraph can represent different sounds — including the long e and short e sounds — depending on the word.
- Examples with the long e sound include eat, sea, team and read.
- Examples with the short e sound include bread, head and thread.
ee
- The ee vowel digraph produces the long e sound.
- Examples: tree, bee, see and meet.
ie
- This vowel digraph can make the long i sound.
- Examples of the ie digraph include pie, tie and lie.
oa
- The oa vowel digraph typically makes the long o sound.
- Examples in this vowel team include boat, toast and road.
oi
- The oi vowel team creates the oy sound.
- Examples include coin and voice.
The vowel team "oi" is commonly found in words like noise and poise.
ue
- This digraph often makes the long u sound.
- Examples include blue and clue.
oo
- The oo vowel team can produce two different but distinct sounds — the long u sound and the short oo sound.
- Examples with the long u sound include moon, soon and spoon.
- Examples with the short oo sound include book, look and cook.
au
- The au vowel team typically makes the aw sound.
- Examples include autumn, cause and pause.
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Word Study List - Long I Graphemes
Introduce and explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long i’ sound with this extensive list of words.
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Long Vowel O Teams Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /o/ sound with this fun boat-themed interactive activity.
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Long E Vowel Digraphs Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different graphemes that spell the long /e/ sound with this fun space-themed interactive activity.
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Vowel Digraph Dominoes - EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with ee, ea, and ey vowel digraph conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 26 dominoes.
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'AY' Diphthong Vowel Digraph Board Game
Decode words with the ay long vowel team in this board game.
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Long A Graphemes - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long a’ sound with this active classroom game that will get your students moving!
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R-Controlled Vowel Word Building - Google Slides Interactive Activity
Explore spelling and reading words that contain r-controlled vowels with this interactive Google Slides activity.
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Vowel Digraph Cover Up Game
Practise vowel teams with your students with this set of three fun partner cover up games.
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Long I Vowel Digraphs Interactive Activity
Practise identifying the different vowel digraphs that spell the long /i/ sound with this fun iceberg-themed interactive activity.
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Diphthong Colouring Activity Worksheets
Practise finding different vowel team diphthongs with this set of fun colour-by-code worksheets for your students.
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Diphthong Phonics Journal
Help students remember and record words and examples of different diphthongs during your phonics lessons.
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Diphthongs Teaching Slides
Teach your students about diphthongs with this set of 23 teaching slides.
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Vowel Teams Sorting Activity (EE, EA and EY)
Decode words with the EE, EA and EY vowel teams using 18 picture cards with sorting mats.
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AY Diphthong Vowel Digraph Bingo
Practise decoding words that include the AY long /a/ vowel team sound with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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Word Study List - Long U Graphemes
Introduce and explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long u’ sound with this extensive list of words.
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Word Study List - Long O Graphemes
Introduce and explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long o’ sound with this extensive list of words.
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R-Controlled Vowel Peg Cards
Build an engaging literacy center or station activity around r-controlled vowels with these digital and/or printable r-controlled vowel clip cards.
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Vowel Team Digraph Poster Set
Display this poster set in your classroom when teaching children about different vowel team digraphs.
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Vowel Digraph Dominoes - OA, OW, and OE
Decode words with oa, ow, and oe vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 28 dominoes.
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OA Vowel Digraph Bingo Game
Practise decoding words with OA vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds with this BINGO game for up to 18 players.
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Long U Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘long u’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Short OO Words - Word Search
Explore words containing some of the most common ‘short oo’ graphemes with this set of differentiated word searches.
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Long OO Graphemes - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long oo’ sound with this active classroom game that will get your students moving!
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OW Graphemes - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore words containing graphemes that make the diphthong ‘ow’ with this active classroom game that will get your students moving!
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Short OO Graphemes - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘short oo’ sound with this active classroom game that will get your students moving!
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Sounds of 'OO' - Cut and Paste Worksheet
Sort words according to whether they contain a long or short ‘oo’ sound with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
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Word Study List - Long Vowels
Introduce and explore words containing graphemes that make long vowel sounds with this extensive list of words.
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Long I Graphemes - SCOOT! Task Cards
Explore words containing graphemes that make the ‘long i’ sound with this active classroom game that will get your students moving!
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The OW Digraph - Sorting Activity
Practise reading words containing the 'ow' digraph using this hands-on sorting activity.
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Digital Activity for Learning Diphthongs
Practise diphthong knowledge with this fun and engaging digital learning activity.
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Diphthongs Classroom Posters
Display this set of posters highlighting the main diphthongs with word examples and mouth articulation images.
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Sounds of OO - Glasses Template
Review the long and short ‘oo’ sound by creating a pair of ‘sOOper’ funky glasses!