Y as a Vowel

It is more common to find the letter “y” as a vowel than as a consonant. Typically, the letter “y” is a consonant when it is at the beginning of a word, e.g., yes, you, yard and young. If the letter “y” is located in the middle or end of the word, it is often treated as a vowel. As always, there are exceptions, e.g., lawyer, canyon & beyond.

Y as a Vowel – Long E

When the letter y is found at the end of a word, it sometimes makes the long e sound as noted in the table below.

any	early	many	ready
baby	easy	mommy	really
body	energy	money	safety
bunny	every	only	sandy
candy	family	pantry	story
city	funny	penny	study
copy	happy	pretty	sunny
country	heavy	puppy	usually
daddy	lady	quickly	very

When the letter “y” is found at the end of a word with more than one syllable, it typically makes the long /e/ sound.

Y as a Vowel – Long I

When the letter y is found at the end of a word, it can also make the long i sound as noted in the table below. We also wrote a post about Y word family which provides free worksheets.

ally	cry	fly	ply	sky	spy
apply	defy	fry	pry	sly	spy
buy	deny	July	reply	spry	try
by	dry	my	shy	why

I once read when the letter “y” is found at the end of a one syllable word, it typically makes a long /i/ sound. However, over one third of the words above have more than one syllable.

The letter y can also sound like a short i, e.g., mystic and rhythm. In addition, when a vowel precedes the letter “y”, it often makes the “y” silent, e.g. day & key.