Sounds of letter E
Here is the list of sounds that the vowel E and combinations with E can produce in stressed syllables.
1) /iː/
The long i can be produced by ee, ea, ei, ey, as well as a single e.
equal, even, frequent, legal, metre, previous, recent, senior, vehicle, be, me, compete, extreme
beat, clean, easy, leader, please, seal, team, weak
agree, feed, keep, seed, three, week
ceiling, deceive, receipt, key
2) /e/
You will often get this short sound when e or ea is stressed.
bell, correct, desk, get, hotel, pen, suggest, went, yes
dreadful, head, heavy, leather, pleasant, ready, sweat, weather
3) /ɜː/
This long sound often comes with er and ear.
certain, German, her, perfect, service, term, were
early, earn, earth, heard, learn, search
4) /ɪə/
The patterns ear, eer, as well as ere are likely to produce this long sound.
appear, beard, clear, ear, gear
beer, career, engineer, peer, volunteer
sphere, here, severe, we're
5) /eə/
It also occurs in ear and ere but is less frequent than /ɪə/.
bear, pear, swear, wear
there, where
6) /ei/
/ei/ is a common pronunciation for eigh pattern. Sometimes this sound can occur in ey and ea.
eight, neighbour, weight
grey, survey, they
break, great, steak
7) /juː/
The combination of ew results in this long sound, as a rule.
dew, few, nephew, stew, view