A long, tense vowel. The tongue is high and forward and the lips are spread, as in a smile. Hold it: it should be clearly longer than /ɪ/.
Hear it: /iː/ · in a word: sheep
How to make it
- Smile while you say it.
- Hold it about twice as long as /ɪ/.
- Keep it steady: do not let it slide into another vowel.
Spellings
| Spelling | Examples |
|---|---|
| ee | see, green, three, feel |
| ea | seat, beat, leave, speak |
| e | me, he, we, these |
| ie / ei | field, piece, believe, receive, ceiling |
| other | key, machine, police, people |
Compare with /ɪ/
Make /iː/ longer and tenser; make /ɪ/ short and relaxed.
| /iː/ | /ɪ/ |
|---|---|
| sheep /iː/ | ship /ɪ/ |
| seat /iː/ | sit /ɪ/ |
| beat /iː/ | bit /ɪ/ |
| feel /iː/ | fill /ɪ/ |
Practice
Drag each word to the vowel it has. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap a box. Spelling can mislead you.
Words to sort: see, feel, speak, these, believe, receive, police, ceiling, ship, bill, city, pretty, village, hill, mix, list. /iː/ as in sheep; /ɪ/ as in ship.
Think about the sound, not the spelling. British pronunciation.
Press 🔊, listen, and choose what you heard. Press it again to hear it again. Each time you start, the sounds are different.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.
Press 🔊 to hear each sentence. There is no text: drag the word you hear into the gap. The bank has words that do not belong, so listen carefully. On a phone, press and hold a word to drag it, or tap a word and then tap the gap.