Phonics word list

Long e words

In short

Long e is the vowel sound in me, feet, eat and happy, written /ē/. English spells it e, ee, ea, y at the end of longer words, and less often e_e, ey, ie and ei. Our checked list has 3,523 words with the long e sound.

At a glance

Words in our list: 3,523
By syllables: one syllable: 473 · two syllables: 1,364 · three or more syllables: 1,686
Taught in: Lesson 85 in the sequence

Long e words, 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.

e on its own (be, he)

The 40 most common of 696 words. 656 more are in our list.

e on its own (be, he)
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
be	b·e	1	Lesson 14 (heart word)
he	h·e	1	Lesson 13 (heart word)
me	m·e	1	Lesson 14 (heart word)
we	w·e	1	Lesson 14 (heart word)
she	sh·e	1	Lesson 14 (heart word)
feed	f·e·ed	1	Lesson 85
even	e·v·e·n	2	Lesson 68
being	b·e·i·ng	2	Lesson 65
below	b·e·l·ow	2	Lesson 86
equal	e·qu·a·l	2	Lesson 68
evens	e·v·e·n·s	2	Lesson 68
legal	l·e·g·a·l	2	Lesson 68
maybe	m·ay·b·e	2	Lesson 84
react	r·e·a·c·t	2	Lesson 68
reply	r·e·p·l·y	2	Lesson 73
agreed	a·g·r·e·ed	2	Lesson 85
became	b·e·c·a_e·m	2	Lesson 68
before	b·e·f·ore	2	Lesson 78
create	c·r·e·a_e·t	2	Lesson 68
decent	d·e·c·e·n·t	2	Lesson 117
recall	r·e·c·a·ll	2	Lesson 68
recent	r·e·c·e·n·t	2	Lesson 117
region	r·e·gi·o·n	2	Not in the sequence
relate	r·e·l·a_e·t	2	Lesson 68
remain	r·e·m·ai·n	2	Lesson 84
remark	r·e·m·ar·k	2	Lesson 77
remind	r·e·m·i·n·d	2	Lesson 72
remove	r·e·m·o·v·e	2	Not in the sequence
repeat	r·e·p·ea·t	2	Lesson 85
report	r·e·p·or·t	2	Lesson 78
resort	r·e·s·or·t	2	Lesson 78
return	r·e·t·ur·n	2	Lesson 81
reveal	r·e·v·ea·l	2	Lesson 85
review	r·e·v·i·ew	2	Not in the sequence
secret	s·e·c·r·e·t	2	Lesson 68
senior	s·e·n·i·or	2	Not in the sequence
besides	b·e·s·i_e·d·s	2	Lesson 67a
creates	c·r·e·a_e·t·s	2	Lesson 68
prepare	p·r·e·p·are	2	Lesson 112
prevent	p·r·e·v·e·n·t	2	Lesson 68

ee (see, deep)

The 40 most common of 409 words. 369 more are in our list.

ee (see, deep)
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
see	s·ee	1	Lesson 85
deep	d·ee·p	1	Lesson 85
feel	f·ee·l	1	Lesson 85
feet	f·ee·t	1	Lesson 85
free	f·r·ee	1	Lesson 85
keen	k·ee·n	1	Lesson 85
keep	k·ee·p	1	Lesson 85
meet	m·ee·t	1	Lesson 85
need	n·ee·d	1	Lesson 85
seek	s·ee·k	1	Lesson 85
seem	s·ee·m	1	Lesson 85
seen	s·ee·n	1	Lesson 85
sees	s·ee·s	1	Lesson 85
tree	t·r·ee	1	Lesson 85
week	w·ee·k	1	Lesson 85
deems	d·ee·m·s	1	Lesson 85
feeds	f·ee·d·s	1	Lesson 85
feels	f·ee·l·s	1	Lesson 85
green	g·r·ee·n	1	Lesson 85
keeps	k·ee·p·s	1	Lesson 85
meets	m·ee·t·s	1	Lesson 85
needs	n·ee·d·s	1	Lesson 85
seeks	s·ee·k·s	1	Lesson 85
seems	s·ee·m·s	1	Lesson 85
sheet	sh·ee·t	1	Lesson 85
sleep	s·l·ee·p	1	Lesson 85
speed	s·p·ee·d	1	Lesson 85
teeth	t·ee·th	1	Lesson 85
three	th·r·ee	1	Lesson 85
trees	t·r·ee·s	1	Lesson 85
weeks	w·ee·k·s	1	Lesson 85
wheel	wh·ee·l	1	Lesson 85
deemed	d·ee·m·ed	1	Lesson 85
screen	s·c·r·ee·n	1	Lesson 85
seemed	s·ee·m·ed	1	Lesson 85
speech	s·p·ee·ch	1	Lesson 85
street	s·t·r·ee·t	1	Lesson 85
wheels	wh·ee·l·s	1	Lesson 85
screens	s·c·r·ee·n·s	1	Lesson 85
agree	a·g·r·ee	2	Lesson 85

ea (eat, tea)

The 40 most common of 526 words. 486 more are in our list.

ea (eat, tea)
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
eat	ea·t	1	Lesson 85
tea	t·ea	1	Lesson 85
deal	d·ea·l	1	Lesson 85
each	ea·ch	1	Lesson 85
ease	ea·s·e	1	Lesson 85
east	ea·s·t	1	Lesson 85
eats	ea·t·s	1	Lesson 85
hear	h·ea·r	1	Lesson 85
heat	h·ea·t	1	Lesson 85
lead	l·ea·d	1	Lesson 85
leaf	l·ea·f	1	Lesson 85
mean	m·ea·n	1	Lesson 85
peak	p·ea·k	1	Lesson 85
plea	p·l·ea	1	Lesson 85
read	r·ea·d	1	Lesson 85
real	r·ea·l	1	Lesson 85
team	t·ea·m	1	Lesson 85
cease	c·ea·s·e	1	Lesson 117
cheap	ch·ea·p	1	Lesson 85
clean	c·l·ea·n	1	Lesson 85
deals	d·ea·l·s	1	Lesson 85
dream	d·r·ea·m	1	Lesson 85
hears	h·ea·r·s	1	Lesson 85
leads	l·ea·d·s	1	Lesson 85
least	l·ea·s·t	1	Lesson 85
leave	l·ea·v·e	1	Lesson 85
means	m·ea·n·s	1	Lesson 85
peace	p·ea·c·e	1	Lesson 85
reach	r·ea·ch	1	Lesson 85
reads	r·ea·d·s	1	Lesson 85
speak	s·p·ea·k	1	Lesson 85
steal	s·t·ea·l	1	Lesson 85
teach	t·ea·ch	1	Lesson 85
treat	t·r·ea·t	1	Lesson 85
breach	b·r·ea·ch	1	Lesson 85
leaves	l·ea·v·e·s	1	Lesson 85
please	p·l·ea·s·e	1	Lesson 85
speaks	s·p·ea·k·s	1	Lesson 85
stream	s·t·r·ea·m	1	Lesson 85
treats	t·r·ea·t·s	1	Lesson 85

y at the end (any, army)

The 40 most common of 1,127 words. 1,087 more are in our list.

y at the end (any, army)
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
any	a·n·y	2	Lesson 32 (heart word)
army	ar·m·y	2	Lesson 77
body	b·o·d·y	2	Lesson 74
bury	b·u·r·y	2	Not in the sequence
busy	b·u·s·y	2	Not in the sequence
city	c·i·t·y	2	Lesson 117
copy	c·o·p·y	2	Lesson 74
duty	d·u·t·y	2	Lesson 74
lady	l·a·d·y	2	Lesson 74
lazy	l·a·z·y	2	Lesson 74
many	m·a·n·y	2	Lesson 32 (heart word)
only	o·n·l·y	2	Lesson 39b (heart word)
ugly	u·g·l·y	2	Lesson 74
vary	v·a·r·y	2	Not in the sequence
very	v·e·r·y	2	Lesson 39b (heart word)
angry	a·n·g·r·y	2	Lesson 74
badly	b·a·d·l·y	2	Lesson 74
carry	c·a·rr·y	2	Lesson 74
crazy	c·r·a·z·y	2	Lesson 74
daily	d·ai·l·y	2	Lesson 84
dirty	d·ir·t·y	2	Lesson 81
early	ear·l·y	2	Lesson 113
empty	e·m·p·t·y	2	Lesson 74
entry	e·n·t·r·y	2	Lesson 74
fancy	f·a·n·c·y	2	Lesson 117
fully	f·u·ll·y	2	Lesson 74
funny	f·u·nn·y	2	Lesson 74
handy	h·a·n·d·y	2	Lesson 74
happy	h·a·pp·y	2	Lesson 74
heavy	h·ea·v·y	2	Lesson 94
hurry	h·urr·y	2	Lesson 81
lucky	l·u·ck·y	2	Lesson 74
marry	m·a·rr·y	2	Not in the sequence
messy	m·e·ss·y	2	Lesson 74
nasty	n·a·s·t·y	2	Lesson 74
noisy	n·oi·s·y	2	Lesson 95
party	p·ar·t·y	2	Lesson 77
ready	r·ea·d·y	2	Lesson 94
sadly	s·a·d·l·y	2	Lesson 74
silly	s·i·ll·y	2	Lesson 74

e_e, ey, ie, i, ei (key, here)

The 40 most common of 765 words. 725 more are in our list.

e_e, ey, ie, i, ei (key, here)
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
key	k·ey	1	Lesson 85
here	h·e_e·r	1	Lesson 24 (heart word)
keys	k·ey·s	1	Lesson 85
brief	b·r·ie·f	1	Not in the sequence
field	f·ie·l·d	1	Not in the sequence
piece	p·ie·c·e	1	Not in the sequence
scene	sc·e_e·n	1	Not in the sequence
these	th·e_e·s	1	Lesson 57
fields	f·ie·l·d·s	1	Not in the sequence
scheme	s·ch·e_e·m	1	Lesson 118
money	m·o·n·ey	2	Lesson 85
movie	m·o·v·ie	2	Not in the sequence
beyond	b·ey·o·n·d	2	Lesson 85
bodies	b·o·d·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
buried	b·u·r·i·ed	2	Not in the sequence
buries	b·u·r·ie·s	2	Not in the sequence
copied	c·o·p·i·ed	2	Lesson 110
copies	c·o·p·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
delete	d·e·l·e_e·t	2	Lesson 67b
either	ei·th·er	2	Not in the sequence
ladies	l·a·d·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
pieces	p·ie·c·e·s	2	Not in the sequence
police	p·o·l·i·c·e	2	Not in the sequence
series	s·e·r·ie·s	2	Not in the sequence
unique	u·n·i·qu·e	2	Not in the sequence
varied	v·a·r·i·ed	2	Not in the sequence
varies	v·a·r·ie·s	2	Not in the sequence
achieve	a·ch·ie·v·e	2	Not in the sequence
believe	b·e·l·ie·v·e	2	Not in the sequence
briefly	b·r·ie·f·l·y	2	Not in the sequence
carried	c·a·rr·i·ed	2	Lesson 110
carries	c·a·rr·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
deletes	d·e·l·e_e·t·s	2	Lesson 67b
entries	e·n·t·r·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
evening	e_e·v·n·i·ng	2	Lesson 67b
extreme	e·x·t·r·e_e·m	2	Lesson 67b
lorries	l·o·rr·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
machine	m·a·ch·i·n·e	2	Not in the sequence
neither	n·ei·th·er	2	Not in the sequence
parties	p·ar·t·ie·s	2	Lesson 110

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 68	216
Lesson 74	511
Lesson 80	101
Lesson 85	862
Lesson 110	263
Lesson 111	70
Lesson 117	182
Lesson 119	83
Not in the sequence	648

How do you teach long e words?

Start with the open e in short words (me, he, we) and then ee, which is reliable. Add ea next, with a warning: it has other sounds. Y at the end of a two-syllable word (happy, baby) is the most common long e spelling in our list, so give it its own lesson. Build a chart and sort words into columns.

What mistake do students make with long e words?

In spelling, ee and ea get swapped (meet and meat). Teach them as homophone pairs with meaning: "You meet a friend. You eat meat." In reading, ea words are the trouble, since ea can also say /ĕ/ (head) or /ā/ (great). Teach flexing: try /ē/ first, then /ĕ/.

Where do long e words come in the sequence?

Open e and e_e come early. Ee, ea and ey come with the vowel teams. Y as /ē/ comes with two-syllable words. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 85.

Exceptions worth knowing

Key and money use ey. Field and piece use ie, and receive uses ei. Been says /ĭ/ in American English.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 85 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

We need to eat.
The bee is on the leaf.
She can see the sea.

Questions people ask

What are 5 long e words?

Be, he, me, we, eat. Those are the five most common of the 3,523 words with the long e sound in our checked list.

What are the ways to spell long e?

E (me), ee (feet), ea (eat), y (happy), e_e (theme), ey (key), ie (field) and ei (receive).

What is the most common long e spelling?

In our list, y at the end of a longer word (happy, body) beats every other long e spelling. Among vowel teams, ea and ee are close.

When can a student read long e words?

Long e words are taught at Lesson 85 in the lesson sequence we use. 1,917 of the 3,523 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.