Read these pair of words
on/one,
us/use,
hat/hate,
tap/tape,
at/ate,
mat/mate,
sit/site,
cap/cape,
at/ate,
quit/quite,
win/wine.
When we add an ‘e’ to the end of a lot of words, especially short vowel sound words, it changes the sound and meaning. It makes the vowel sound long and say its alphabet name:
“a = ay,” “e = ee,” “i = eye,” “o = oh,” ” u – you”
– hat/hate, pet/Pete, rid/ride, cod/code, us/use.
This silent ‘e’ is magic! It changes the sound and meaning of words but remains silent.
- It also makes the ‘g’ soft, as in hug/huge, rag/rage, wag/wage, stag/stage.
- It also makes the final “th” more voiced and a long vowel sound:breath / breathe, cloth/ clothe, bath/ bathe, and also loathe, lathe, writhe, seethe, soothe.
Just one little silent ‘e’ changes the sound and meaning of a word! That’s why it’s so important to be careful about adding ‘e’ at the end of words.
Exceptions – love/ glove/ above/ have /come/ some/ none / oven/ cover/ glove/ to live have short vowel sounds.
How to correctly spell words you don't know 