EE and EA: When Two Vowels Make the Long E Sound (and the Exceptions)

Two of the most common vowel teams in English are EE and EA. Both usually make the /iː/ sound (the long E sound), but EA has a surprising number of exceptions you need to know.

EE = Almost Always /iː/

The good news: EE is very reliable. In nearly every English word, EE makes the /iː/ sound. There are almost no exceptions.

More EE words: see, free, need, feed, keep, feel, seem, week, meet, deep, green, street, sheep, cheese, fifteen, indeed, between

EA = Usually /iː/ Too

EA also usually makes the /iː/ sound, especially in most common words:

More EA /iː/ words: team, dream, stream, leave, peace, teach, reach, hear, near, year, real, deal, meal, seal, heat, meat, feat, seat

Exception 1: EA = /ɛ/ (Short E)

These common words use EA but say the short E sound /ɛ/ (like in "bed"). You must memorize these:

More EA /ɛ/ words: bed (no, that's ED), lead (the metal), read (past tense), spread, thread, dread, sweat, meant, dealt, wealth, stealth, feather, leather, weather, heavy, ready, steady, already, jealous, pleasant, measure, treasure, pleasure

Tricky Pair: read and read

The word "read" is spelled the same in present and past tense but pronounced differently:

• read (present) /riːd/ - "I read every day."
• read (past) /rɛd/ - "I read that book last week."

Context tells you which pronunciation to use.

Exception 2: EA = /eɪ/ (Long A)

A small number of words use EA to say the /eɪ/ sound (the long A sound). These are especially tricky:

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