Letter E the First Vowel

E is the fifth letter and a vowel! E has two sounds: short E (like in BED, RED, PEN) and long E (like in TREE, SEE, BEE). Long E sounds like the name of the letter itself: eeee. Short E is more like eh, with your mouth slightly open.

E is the MOST COMMON letter in English. It shows up in more words than any other letter. Uppercase E has three horizontal lines like a comb. Lowercase e is a small sideways oval with a line through it. E is essential — without it, English words barely work.

Short E words: bed, red, pen, egg, end, pet, ten. Long E words: tree, bee, see, feet, meet, teeth. Silent E at the end: cake (the E makes the A say its name), ride, note, cute. E does a lot of jobs in English words!

Silent E is special. A word like CAKE has the E at the end, but you never say it out loud. Instead, the E changes the A to say its name. CAP (short A) becomes CAPE (long A, with silent E). This trick works with many vowels: kit becomes kite, hop becomes hope, cut becomes cute.