Phonics word list

Ea words with long a

In short

In a handful of words ea says long a, /ā/, as in great, break and steak. It is the rarest sound of ea. Our checked list has 23 words where ea says /ā/.

At a glance

Words in our list: 23
By syllables: one syllable: 6 · two syllables: 15 · three or more syllables: 2
Taught in: Lesson 114 in the sequence

One spelling, more than one sound

Most lists mix these up. We count each sound separately, so a student practicing one sound only sees words that make it.

How many words in our list spell each sound with ea
Sound	Example	Words	List
/ē/	eat	542	See the list
/ĕ/	dead	181	See the list
/ā/	break	23	This page

Ea words that say /ā/, most common first

Spelling units show how each word breaks into the letters that spell one sound; a_e is a vowel and silent e working together. Readable after is the first lesson where a student can sound out the whole word.

One syllable

6 words, most common first.

One syllable
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
break	b·r·ea·k	1	Lesson 114
great	g·r·ea·t	1	Lesson 114
breaks	b·r·ea·k·s	1	Lesson 114
steak	s·t·ea·k	1	Lesson 114
greats	g·r·ea·t·s	1	Lesson 114
steaks	s·t·ea·k·s	1	Lesson 114

Two syllables

15 words, most common first.

Two syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
greater	g·r·ea·t·er	2	Lesson 114
greatly	g·r·ea·t·l·y	2	Lesson 114
breaking	b·r·ea·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 114
greatest	g·r·ea·t·e·s·t	2	Lesson 114
breakdown	b·r·ea·k·d·ow·n	2	Lesson 114
daybreak	d·ay·b·r·ea·k	2	Lesson 114
outbreak	ou·t·b·r·ea·k	2	Lesson 114
breakneck	b·r·ea·k·n·e·ck	2	Lesson 114
greatness	g·r·ea·t·n·e·ss	2	Lesson 114
outbreaks	ou·t·b·r·ea·k·s	2	Lesson 114
breakdowns	b·r·ea·k·d·ow·n·s	2	Lesson 114
heartbreak	h·e·ar·t·b·r·ea·k	2	Lesson 114
heartbreaks	h·e·ar·t·b·r·ea·k·s	2	Lesson 114
breakthrough	b·r·ea·k·th·r·ough	2	Not in the sequence
breakthroughs	b·r·ea·k·th·r·ough·s	2	Not in the sequence

Three or more syllables

2 words, most common first.

Three or more syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
breakable	b·r·ea·k·a·b·le	3	Lesson 114
unbreakable	u·n·b·r·ea·k·a·b·le	4	Lesson 114

When do these words become readable?

The lessons where the most words on this page become decodable. Words marked not in the sequence have a spelling the sequence never teaches as a pattern.

Lessons where the most words on this page become readable
Readable after	Words
Lesson 114	21
Not in the sequence	2

How do you teach ea words that say /ā/?

This group is small enough to learn by heart. "In these few words, ea says /ā/." Read great, break, steak, and their forms (greater, breaking). Point out the homophones: break and brake, steak and stake, great and grate.

What mistake do students make with ea words that say /ā/?

Students read great as /grēt/. That is a normal first try. Teach the flex: /ē/, then /ĕ/, then /ā/. Homophone pairs settle the spelling.

Where do ea words that say /ā/ come in the sequence?

Ea /ā/ comes late, with other less common long a spellings such as eigh and ey. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 114.

Exceptions worth knowing

Our list has few words in this group, most built on break, great and steak. Yea is rare and not worth teaching to young students.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 114 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

The steak is great.
Take a break.
Did the cup break?

Questions people ask

What are 5 ea words that say /ā/?

Break, great, breaks, greater, greatly. Those are the five most common of the 23 words where ea says /ā/ in our checked list.

What words have ea saying long a?

Great, break and steak, and forms built on them like greater and breakfast-time words such as daybreak.

How do I teach great and grate?

As a homophone pair: great means very good; grate is what you do to cheese.

When can a student read ea words that say /ā/?

Ea words that say /ā/ are taught at Lesson 114 in the lesson sequence we use. 21 of the 23 words on this page can be sounded out by then; the rest wait for a pattern taught later, and the tables show the lesson for each word.

How this list was built

Every word comes from our lexicon of common English words, each split into spelling units and checked against a pronouncing dictionary, so a word is listed under the sound its spelling really makes. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out. The readable after lesson comes from our decodability engine, which checks each spelling unit and syllable pattern against the lesson sequence. You can run your own text through the same engine with the free decodable text checker.