Vowels

Diphthongs

A diphthong is a vowel sound that slides from one position to another inside a single syllable, as in coin, boy, out and cow. Your mouth moves while you say it, which is what separates a diphthong from a vowel team that holds one steady sound.

oi and oy are the same sound in different positions, and so are ou and ow. Teaching each pair together, with the position rule, saves teaching four separate things.

Patterns and example words

Every word below is from the word list Cody generates from, not a hand-picked sample. The count is how many words in that list carry the pattern.

oi

512 words

point pointed pointing points join joined joining joins

oy

502 words

enjoy enjoyed enjoying enjoys boy boys employee employees

ou as in south

1,427 words

our ours about out house housed houses housing

ow as in plow

825 words

now how down however allow allowed allowing allows

au

1,995 words

because cause caused causes causing pause paused pauses

aw

518 words

saw law laws draw drawing drawings drawn draws

Curricula that teach this

Cody generates material against the scope and sequence you already teach. This skill appears in Cody Curriculum, Custom Pattern Selection, UFLI Inspired.

Make a decodable story for this skill

Cody generates stories, word lists and worksheets constrained to the patterns a student has already been taught, so practice on diphthongs does not smuggle in something they have not met yet.