The ear and air Sounds
Learn the ear and air trigraphs in phonics. ear sounds like in hear, air sounds like in fair. A fun reading lesson for kids with word games and a quiz.
Key takeaways
- ear and air are trigraphs: three letters, one sound
- ear sounds like in hear and year
- air sounds like in fair and chair
Two new trigraphs
A trigraph is three letters that make one sound. Today we meet two of them: ear and air. They look similar but they sound different. Let's read! 👂
The ear sound
ear makes the sound you hear in the word ear itself!
- ear 👂
- hear 👂
- year 📅
- near 📍
- dear 💌
Say hear slowly: h - ear. You can hear with your ears! 👂
The air sound
air makes a softer, open sound.
- air 💨
- fair 🎡
- chair 🪑
- hair 💇
- pair 👟👟
Say chair slowly: ch - air. You sit on a chair! 🪑
Listen carefully
Try saying these two words one after the other:
hear 👂 ... hair 💇
Can you hear how different they are? ear is closed and pointy. air is open and wide.
A little word list
Read these ear and air words out loud:
- ear 👂
- hear 👂
- year 📅
- fair 🎡
- chair 🪑
- hair 💇
Play the games below to match each word!
When you can read ear and air, try the r-controlled vowels ar, or, er and the gliding diphthongs oi, oy, ou and ow.
Quick quiz
Test yourself and earn XP
What sound does ear make in 'hear'?
ear makes the sound you hear in ear and hear.
Which word has the air sound?
Chair has the air sound: ch - air.
How many letters make the ear sound?
ear is a trigraph: three letters (e, a, r) make one sound.
Play & learn
ear and air cards +5 XP
Completed ✓ +5 XP
Match the word and picture +10 XP
Completed ✓ +10 XP
FAQ
No. ear sounds like in hear and year. air sounds like in fair and chair. They are two different sounds.
A trigraph is three letters that make one sound. Both ear and air are trigraphs.
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