Pattern 1 closed syllables the closed syllable is the

Pattern 1: Closed Syllables
The closed syllable is the most common spelling unit in English. A closed
syllable has a short vowel sound, spelled with one letter, which is always followed by
one or more consonants: cab, sit, men. Some examples of words with two closed
syllables are: combat, comet, contact, dentist, fabric, insect, kitten, pencil, subject,
rabbit, sudden, velvet. Almost 50% of syllables in the words we read are closed off by
one or more consonants. Consonants are doubled at the end of closed syllables when
suffixes beginning with a vowel are added: ed, ing, er, est or y – rub-bed, squat-ting,
glad-der, glad-dest, cat-ty. Two or more consonant letters often follow short
vowels in closed syllables – think of words like judge, stretch, back, stuff, doll, mess,
jazz. This is a spelling convention – the extra letters do not represent extra sounds.
Each of these example words has only one consonant phoneme at the end of the
word.
Pattern 2: Open Syllables
In an open syllable, nothing comes after the vowel. Look at the word “he” –
we say that the vowel is open – there is nothing closing it in. Look at the open
syllables in these words: ba-by, e-ven, to-tal, ri-val, bi-ble pa-per, a-ble. If a
syllable is open, it will usually end with a long vowel sound. Therefore, when syllables
are combined, there will be no doubled consonant between an open syllable and one

that follows: be-gan, be-yond, de-pend, lo-cate, re-cent, a-pron, ba-sic, re-lax, stu-
dent
Why teach Students about Open and Closed Syllables?
T here are six different syllable types, but open and closed syllables are the
easiest to teach and learn. Hundreds of words can be read and written with a basic
understanding of open and closed syllables. Knowing these syllable types will help
students be better spellers and also better readers. It is also a foundation for
multisyllabic reading. Larger words are built off the smaller chunks of two-syllable
words. When reading and spelling multisyllabic words, students should be able to
break the word apart into syllables and then decipher each syllable independently to
build the word.
Words that have a double consonant are often difficult to spell. Students only
hear one of the consonants when spelling. However, if students are taught that a
short vowel is followed by a consonant, they will learn that mit/ten must have two
“t’s” in the word.
Pattern 3: Silent E (Vowel-Consonant-e)
These syllables contain long vowel sounds that are spelled with a single letter,
followed by a consonant and a silent e, such as: wake, while, yoke, rude, fate, plate,
etc.
Pattern 4: Vowel Team
A vowel team may be two, three, or four letters. A vowel team can represent a
long, short, or diphthong (oi) vowel sounds. Vowel teams occur most often in old
Anglo-Saxon words whose pronunciations have changed over the years, but the
original spelling patterns remain. Examples of vowel teams are found in thief, boil,
boat, ailment, boastful, suit.