long u /ū/

long u is the /ū/ sound like in ‘cute’, or when the vowel says its name.

1. /ū/ can be spelled u, like in ‘human’, ‘unicorn’
   /ū/ can be spelled ew, like in ‘flew’
   2. /ū/ can be spelled ui, like in ‘fruit’
   3. /ū/ can be spelled ue, like in ‘blue’
   4. when the silent e uses its magic, like in ‘cute’ (see part 2, lesson 9, magic e)
   5. /ū/ can be spelled oo, like in ‘moon’ (see part 3, lesson 19, scoot)
   6. /ū/ can be spelled as o (to, do, who)
   7. sometimes /ū/ can be spelled ou (group), o_e(lose, move), oe (canoe, shoe)

Let’s be honest here. This letter sound is very hard. It has many spellings and homonyms, like blew blue. The so-called ‘u’ sound is sometimes a ‘yoo’ sound and sometimes a ‘oo’ sound (blew = oo)(cute = yoo). There are some rules for these, like words that start with ch, d, j, l, r or s follow with an ‘oo’, and some letters like ‘t’ are followed by either sound. We’ve made some great word lists and a practice sheet for you to recognize the ‘u’ sound in all its tricky spots, and to make some sort it games.

Stay tuned ! (see, you could pronounce that ‘tooned’ or ‘tyooned’). /ū/ spelled oo, like in ‘scoot’ is below and we’ll possibly make some more video lessons soon.

moon, toot, scoot, balloon, soon