ea

In American English

Explore the diverse sounds of the English multigraph 'ea' in this lesson, focusing on its various pronunciations and how they influence word pronunciation.

'ea' as a digraph has five sounds that we are going to talk about here.

Digraphs are a set of two letters that stand together and produce a new sound.

Digraph	ea
Name	ea (pronounced /ˈiː ˈeɪ /)
Common Sound(s)	/i:/, /ɛ/, /iə/, /ɪ/, /ɜ/, /ə/, /eɪ/, /iæ/

Pie Chart of Digraph 'ea' Pronunciation in American English

The Digraph 'ea'

Sound 1: /i:/

'ea' in the middle or at the end of words sounds /i:/:

pea /piː/

seat /siːt/

teacher /ˈtiːtʃər/

dream /dɹiːm/

Sound 2: /ɛ/

The second most common sound 'ea' produces is /ɛ/:

bread /bɹɛd/

head /ˈhɛd/

health /hɛlθ/

stead /stɛd/

Sound 3: /iə/

'ea' also sounds /iə/:

idea /aɪˈdiːə/

theater /θiːət̬ɚ/

real /ˈɹiːəl/

nuclear /ˈn(j)ukliər/

Sound 4: /ɪ/

'ea' sounds /ɪ/, too:

appear /əˈpɪr/

shear /ʃɪr/

dear /dɪɹ/

Sound 5: /ɜ/

'ea' also produces the sound /ɜ/:

early /ˈɜɹli/

learn /lɜɹn/

earn /ɜɹn/

Sound 6: /ə/

'ea' makes the /ə/ sound in unstressed syllables:

pageant /ˈpædʒənt/

Sound 7: /eɪ/

'ea' also sounds /eɪ/:

break /breɪk/

steak /steɪk/

Sound 8: /iæ/

There are also instances where 'ea' sounds /iæ/:

caveat /ˈkæviæt/

reaction /ɹiˈækʃən/

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