Does your child have a hard time spelling words with the sounds of short I and short E? If so, it may be because he struggles to differentiate between these two vowel sounds. It’s a common spelling problem for young children. In this post, you’ll learn what causes this issue and how to solve it.
First let’s talk about some regional differences. Listen to this short video clip to hear how I (a Wisconsinite) and Cheryl (who is from Missouri) pronounce some common words.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with either pronunciation—both are completely correct! But this video really illustrates the root of the short I/short E confusion, doesn’t it? In some areas of the country, pairs of words such as sit and set, bit and bet, and when and win are pronounced identically. And you may be interested to know that there’s actually an official name for this: the Pin-Pen Merger.
Areas of the U.S. Affected by the Pin-Pen Merger
Are you curious how the Pin-Pen Merger affects you? Find your location on the map below. If you live in a blue area—the Southern states, Texas, and a few other scattered areas—chances are good that most people in your area pronounce pin and pen identically. Most commonly, the merger comes into play when I and E come before nasal consonants like M and N.
Regional Variations Are the Spice of Life!
Before we continue, I want to make an important point. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having different pronunciations for words in various areas of the country or the English-speaking world. Regional differences are fascinating! Our only goal here is to help your child spell words that contain short I and short E sounds.
So let’s dig in!
6 Ways to Help Your Child Spell Words with Short I and Short E
Here are six things you can do to tackle short I and short E spelling problems.
For beginning spellers, teach words with short I and short E in different lessons. If you try to teach them in the same lesson, you drastically increase the chances that your child will become confused. As a good example of proper spacing, the All About Spelling Level 1 program teaches words with short I in Lesson 8. Then 3 lessons later, in Lesson 11, words with short E are taught. The space between these lessons gives your child the chance to master one set of words before new (and potentially confusable) words are introduced.
Provide extra practice. The free activity below will give your child extra practice in distinguishing between short I and short E.
“Pronounce for spelling.”Pronouncing for spelling means that we say the word very clearly, exaggerating the vowel sound. In the normal rhythm of speech, vowel sounds are often muffled. So when it’s time to spell, it’s important to slow down and drag out the pronunciation so your child can hear the vowel sound very clearly.
Watch your mouth. Have your child watch your mouth as you make the sounds /ĭ/ and /ĕ/. The mouth should be open taller when you say the short E sound than when you say the short I sound. Now have your child make the sounds while watching himself in the mirror. For some kids, it may be easier to feel this with their mouth than to see it. This part can seem silly, so have fun playing with the sounds as you do this exercise.
Have your child repeat the dictated word back to you. When you dictate a word for your child to spell, have him say it back to you with the exaggerated pronunciation before he spells it. Make any necessary corrections and have him repeat the pronunciation. When it’s time to work on Word Cards, follow this procedure. Say the word normally to see if your child can come up with the correct pronunciation for spelling before he tries to spell the word. For words where this is necessary, your child should remember both the pronunciation and the spelling before moving the card behind the Mastered divider.
Treat some words as homophones. Finally, you may need to treat some words as homophones. Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Where I live, bin and Ben are pronounced differently, but they may sound alike in your area. If this is the case, dictate the word in a sentence so your child has the additional help of hearing the word used in context.
Learning to discriminate between the /ĭ/ and /ĕ/ sounds will help your student immensely in spelling. So working on this skill is well worth the time spent.
Do you live in the beige area on the map or in the blue area? Are your kids affected by the Pin-Pen Merger? Let us know in the comments below! And then download my free “6 Ways We Make Spelling Easy” e-book to learn about more great ways to help your child with spelling.
Finally i have come across natives who have the pin-pen syndrome.My mother tongue is Arabic which does not have the /i/ sound at all.i have been struggling with this sound until i read your article. i won’t give up but at least i have some relief at last.
Does this also apply to higher level spelling words such as “trumpet” or “frozen” where the e usually sounds like i? I’m currently teaching the lesson on diving multi sylllable words and my daughter who is a great speller and reader is getting frustrated.
First, see the note about the need to pronounce words for spelling in the Before You Begin information on page 68 of the Color Edition. Here’s how you can take it a step further:
Explain to your student that when we say words fast in our normal speech, some of the sounds get muffled; we don’t hear them correctly. We need to say them slowly. Then, when you introduce a word, say, for example, “We normally say this word, frozin. I’m going to pronounce this one for spelling. You repeat the pronunciation and then write it. fro-ZEN.” Make sure your student repeats the pronunciation for spelling. When she says the sounds correctly, then have her practice spelling it with the tiles or on paper. When you are done with the day’s work, make sure you put all of the cards in the review tab.
When you get to the point where you are doing the review cards, then tell your student, “I’m going to say these words how we normally say them. I want you to pronounce them for spelling and then write them.” If your student struggles with the pronunciation, give that, have your child repeat it, and then write the spelling. Keep the card in review. When your student can both pronounce for spelling AND spell the word correctly without hesitation or help, then move it to mastered.
You may need to spend a lot of review time on these words. Some parents find they need to keep these word cards in the review section even after they get them correct because of their difficulty. It can be helpful to make sure they get mixed into the various review options (Word Cards, activities, dictation, whatever) at least once a week. If your student struggles with any, put it back in the daily review for a while.
Lessons 5 and 7 have a lot of words that need pronouncing for spelling. After that, the words in level 2 will be more straightforward. The “schwa sound” (a muffled vowel in an unaccented syllable) is used a lot in our language, though, so you’ll want to be aware of it and use this strategy whenever you come across it.
If your daughter would find it interesting, you could discuss how some regional accents pronounce the muffled vowel with a more /uh/ sound than the more /ih/ sound you use. So instead of trumpit and frozin, then will say trumput and frozun.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Thank you for the tips. I do have pupils who find it difficult to differentiate between the two sounds. I will try these ideas out to see what will result.
Cassie,
There are a couple possible issues going on with a child confusing short a and short e.
The first would be a rotational reversal; a lowercase e can look very much like a fancy font a when rotated 180 degrees. If your child can hear the correct sounds, then you know that he or she is confusing the look of the letters. Treat the issue as you would any letter reversal problem. Our How to Solve Letter Reversals article focuses on the most common confused pair, b and d, but the tips will work with any letters.
You can add hand motions to help (these are taught in All About Reading Pre-Reading Level and Level 1). For A, cup your hand as if you are holding an apple. “When we say /a/, let’s pretend that we are holding an apple. Say the sound of A like this: /ă/ – /ă/ – apple.” Student pretends to hold an apple and says /a/ – /a/ – apple. For E, cup your hand to your ear as if you are listening to an echo. “When we say /e/, let’s pretend that we are listening to an echo. Say the sound of E like this: /ĕ/ – /ĕ/ – echo.” Student pretends to listen for an echo and says /ĕ/ – /ĕ/ – echo.
_____
The other cause for confusing short a and short e is auditory confusion. Does the child have any trouble pronouncing the sounds correctly in his or her normal speech? (If the sounds tend to be similar in your regional accent, that could be part of the issue.) Is the child learning English as a second language? (Confusing short a and short e can be more common among those that are not native English speakers.)
If your child pronounces the sounds incorrectly or if he or she cannot easily distinguish between the two sounds, you may find this video from Rachel’s English helpful. This is more for you than for the child, though the child could watch it if interested. It’s just under 3 minutes long, and compares both front and profile views of pronouncing these sounds. The video is designed for students learning English as a second language, but I find that the very direct instruction is often helpful for giving moms tips on how to help their children with making and differentiating certain sounds. Definitely get in front of a mirror with your child and practice together how to make the sounds.
The tips here for distinguishing between short i and short e will also help for distinguishing between short a and short e sounds.
_____
Does this help? Let me know if you have additional questions or need more help.
This is definitely an issue with my daughter. She said the other day in frustration, “Well, I know how to spell them because it’s always the opposite of what I write!” :( I knew I needed to help her, so thanks for the tips! We tried the game in #2 above and she had fun with it. I’m going to try the other tips as well. Thank you for all you do to support our kids in creatively learning!
I’m glad this blog post has been helpful already. However, if you find you need more help and ideas, please let us know. We are happy to help, and short e versus short i can be very tricky for some students!
Oh boy! YES, my homeschooler has pin-pen merger issues. He is in All About Spelling Level 2. We are in Central Missouri. Although I try very hard to distinguish the sounds, he still has problems. But, looking back, he also had problems with reading early on as far as sounding out all his vowels with phonics. The AAR Level 1 program got us through but it was a challenge :-) FYI- he is now an amazing reader but his spelling is very poor.
Carla,
I can be surprisingly common for students to do very well with reading but struggle with spelling! While the two are related, the skills involved are far more different they we think.
I hope you find this blog post helpful, but if you have additional question or need suggestions for possible adaptations to All About Spelling to help with struggling, please let me know. Some children need extra time and extra review to master spelling.
I live in the beige area on the map, and I never heard of the pin-pen merger until another homeschooling mom told me about it. She is from the south. It would be interesting to learn how such mergers come about.
Shifts in pronunciation over time is a fascinating study, Angela! But be aware you may find yourself digging deeper and deeper. I have spent many hours on this topic! Look for an article titled “The PIN-PEN Merger” by blogger Ace Linguist. It digs deeply into the pin-pen merger, what it is, how it differs, where it exists, and how it developed. It includes lots of video and sound files as examples. (Some of the videos she includes may have questionable content, so I don’t want to link directly.)
In addition to the pin-pen merger, parts North America also experience the cot/caught merger. We don’t have a blog post for this one, as it isn’t as difficult for students to overcome as the pin-pen merger, but it is something you may be interested in. You may be interested in reading about the Great Vowel Shift as well. But all of that is beyond the focus of our blog and delves into history and linguistics. Have fun reading on this fascinating topic!
Harkirat,
Yes, English can be messy. It has been influenced by so many other languages over the centuries, and each left its mark. However, it still functions in predictable ways 95+% of the time. You may find our 7 Ways to Make Spelling Logical blog post helpful.
My students live in Southern California, a beige area. While they are not affected by the Pin-Pen Merger exactly, for many, their primary language is Spanish. In Spanish, the letter i is named e, and the letter e is named /e/ as in the short e sound. That causes so much confusion!
Oh, yes! Great point, Kari! Learning English as a second language adds challenges, especially when students are already reading in their first language.
If you have specific questions or need some ideas, please ask. We’re happy to help!
I’m actually struggling with this right now with 3 of my kids. And even myself have to stop and think cause they do sound the same. We are in Los Angeles! Perfect timing, thank you!
I watched this video with my daughter who struggled with this same concept today! It made her feel better that she wasn’t alone in her frustrations. I appreciate the tips and look forward to implementing them tomorrow and in our future lessons.
I’m glad this was encouraging for your daughter, Sita! No, she is not alone! I hope the tips and ideas here help, but if you need more suggestions, please feel free to ask.
Thank you so much!!! We have people in the house that talk both ways so this was helpful. I noticed this week that my daughter had this issue. I’m so glad k found this blog post.
(I probably went through this 5 years ago with an older sibling and completely forgot) Haahaa
These are very helpful. It sounds obvious, but I hadn’t thought to treat the words as homophones when you are working with someone who pronounces a short i and a short e word the same. Makes so much sense.
This blog post is so helpful to me because this is something my 9 year old still struggles with. All About Reading and Spelling have really been a game changer for him in breaking through on learning, but weekly he misspells or says the i for e and vice versa. I am going to try these tricks. Thank you for your amazing program. It really has made my homeschooler a reader finally.
You’re welcome, Rebecca. I’m glad this is helpful, but if you need more ideas about this or any other topic one of your children has trouble with, please let us know. We love to help!
elnagar AF
says:Finally i have come across natives who have the pin-pen syndrome.My mother tongue is Arabic which does not have the /i/ sound at all.i have been struggling with this sound until i read your article. i won’t give up but at least i have some relief at last.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was helpful for you! That short i sound can be tricky for many people, both native and non-native speakers.
Check out this video and information on this sound by Rachel’s English. She teaches English pronunciation to non-native speakers, and does an amazing job in explaining what, exactly, is happening in the mouth for each sound.
Kami Jak
says:Does this also apply to higher level spelling words such as “trumpet” or “frozen” where the e usually sounds like i? I’m currently teaching the lesson on diving multi sylllable words and my daughter who is a great speller and reader is getting frustrated.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceKami,
Aw, those tricky two-syllable words!
Here are some ideas for you:
First, see the note about the need to pronounce words for spelling in the Before You Begin information on page 68 of the Color Edition. Here’s how you can take it a step further:
Explain to your student that when we say words fast in our normal speech, some of the sounds get muffled; we don’t hear them correctly. We need to say them slowly. Then, when you introduce a word, say, for example, “We normally say this word, frozin. I’m going to pronounce this one for spelling. You repeat the pronunciation and then write it. fro-ZEN.” Make sure your student repeats the pronunciation for spelling. When she says the sounds correctly, then have her practice spelling it with the tiles or on paper. When you are done with the day’s work, make sure you put all of the cards in the review tab.
When you get to the point where you are doing the review cards, then tell your student, “I’m going to say these words how we normally say them. I want you to pronounce them for spelling and then write them.” If your student struggles with the pronunciation, give that, have your child repeat it, and then write the spelling. Keep the card in review. When your student can both pronounce for spelling AND spell the word correctly without hesitation or help, then move it to mastered.
You may need to spend a lot of review time on these words. Some parents find they need to keep these word cards in the review section even after they get them correct because of their difficulty. It can be helpful to make sure they get mixed into the various review options (Word Cards, activities, dictation, whatever) at least once a week. If your student struggles with any, put it back in the daily review for a while.
Lessons 5 and 7 have a lot of words that need pronouncing for spelling. After that, the words in level 2 will be more straightforward. The “schwa sound” (a muffled vowel in an unaccented syllable) is used a lot in our language, though, so you’ll want to be aware of it and use this strategy whenever you come across it.
Here are two blog posts to check out:
Pronouncing for Spelling
How to Teach Schwas
If your daughter would find it interesting, you could discuss how some regional accents pronounce the muffled vowel with a more /uh/ sound than the more /ih/ sound you use. So instead of trumpit and frozin, then will say trumput and frozun.
I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Marcellus Cornelius
says:Thank you for the tips. I do have pupils who find it difficult to differentiate between the two sounds. I will try these ideas out to see what will result.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Marcellus! I’d love to hear how things go.
Ashley
says:Thank you so much for these tips. My boys struggle with this and these are very helpful.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceAshley,
I’m glad these are helpful for your boys! You’re welcome.
Cassie
says:Do you have any suggestions for a child who struggles with distinguishing between short e and short a???
Robin
says: Customer ServiceCassie,
There are a couple possible issues going on with a child confusing short a and short e.
The first would be a rotational reversal; a lowercase e can look very much like a fancy font a when rotated 180 degrees. If your child can hear the correct sounds, then you know that he or she is confusing the look of the letters. Treat the issue as you would any letter reversal problem. Our How to Solve Letter Reversals article focuses on the most common confused pair, b and d, but the tips will work with any letters.
You can add hand motions to help (these are taught in All About Reading Pre-Reading Level and Level 1). For A, cup your hand as if you are holding an apple. “When we say /a/, let’s pretend that we are holding an apple. Say the sound of A like this: /ă/ – /ă/ – apple.” Student pretends to hold an apple and says /a/ – /a/ – apple. For E, cup your hand to your ear as if you are listening to an echo. “When we say /e/, let’s pretend that we are listening to an echo. Say the sound of E like this: /ĕ/ – /ĕ/ – echo.” Student pretends to listen for an echo and says /ĕ/ – /ĕ/ – echo.
_____
The other cause for confusing short a and short e is auditory confusion. Does the child have any trouble pronouncing the sounds correctly in his or her normal speech? (If the sounds tend to be similar in your regional accent, that could be part of the issue.) Is the child learning English as a second language? (Confusing short a and short e can be more common among those that are not native English speakers.)
If your child pronounces the sounds incorrectly or if he or she cannot easily distinguish between the two sounds, you may find this video from Rachel’s English helpful. This is more for you than for the child, though the child could watch it if interested. It’s just under 3 minutes long, and compares both front and profile views of pronouncing these sounds. The video is designed for students learning English as a second language, but I find that the very direct instruction is often helpful for giving moms tips on how to help their children with making and differentiating certain sounds. Definitely get in front of a mirror with your child and practice together how to make the sounds.
The tips here for distinguishing between short i and short e will also help for distinguishing between short a and short e sounds.
_____
Does this help? Let me know if you have additional questions or need more help.
Amanda
says:This is definitely an issue with my daughter. She said the other day in frustration, “Well, I know how to spell them because it’s always the opposite of what I write!” :( I knew I needed to help her, so thanks for the tips! We tried the game in #2 above and she had fun with it. I’m going to try the other tips as well. Thank you for all you do to support our kids in creatively learning!
Robin
says: Customer ServiceOh, Amanda! Poor child that she feels that way!
I’m glad this blog post has been helpful already. However, if you find you need more help and ideas, please let us know. We are happy to help, and short e versus short i can be very tricky for some students!
Carla
says:Oh boy! YES, my homeschooler has pin-pen merger issues. He is in All About Spelling Level 2. We are in Central Missouri. Although I try very hard to distinguish the sounds, he still has problems. But, looking back, he also had problems with reading early on as far as sounding out all his vowels with phonics. The AAR Level 1 program got us through but it was a challenge :-) FYI- he is now an amazing reader but his spelling is very poor.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceCarla,
I can be surprisingly common for students to do very well with reading but struggle with spelling! While the two are related, the skills involved are far more different they we think.
I hope you find this blog post helpful, but if you have additional question or need suggestions for possible adaptations to All About Spelling to help with struggling, please let me know. Some children need extra time and extra review to master spelling.
Angela
says:I live in the beige area on the map, and I never heard of the pin-pen merger until another homeschooling mom told me about it. She is from the south. It would be interesting to learn how such mergers come about.
Robin
says: Customer ServiceShifts in pronunciation over time is a fascinating study, Angela! But be aware you may find yourself digging deeper and deeper. I have spent many hours on this topic! Look for an article titled “The PIN-PEN Merger” by blogger Ace Linguist. It digs deeply into the pin-pen merger, what it is, how it differs, where it exists, and how it developed. It includes lots of video and sound files as examples. (Some of the videos she includes may have questionable content, so I don’t want to link directly.)
In addition to the pin-pen merger, parts North America also experience the cot/caught merger. We don’t have a blog post for this one, as it isn’t as difficult for students to overcome as the pin-pen merger, but it is something you may be interested in. You may be interested in reading about the Great Vowel Shift as well. But all of that is beyond the focus of our blog and delves into history and linguistics. Have fun reading on this fascinating topic!
harkirat singh
says:english is a mess
Robin
says: Customer ServiceHarkirat,
Yes, English can be messy. It has been influenced by so many other languages over the centuries, and each left its mark. However, it still functions in predictable ways 95+% of the time. You may find our 7 Ways to Make Spelling Logical blog post helpful.
Kari
says:My students live in Southern California, a beige area. While they are not affected by the Pin-Pen Merger exactly, for many, their primary language is Spanish. In Spanish, the letter i is named e, and the letter e is named /e/ as in the short e sound. That causes so much confusion!
amelia
says:it happend to me too
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOh, yes! Great point, Kari! Learning English as a second language adds challenges, especially when students are already reading in their first language.
If you have specific questions or need some ideas, please ask. We’re happy to help!
Chatel
says:I’m actually struggling with this right now with 3 of my kids. And even myself have to stop and think cause they do sound the same. We are in Los Angeles! Perfect timing, thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was good timing for you, Chatel!
Sita Greenlee
says:I watched this video with my daughter who struggled with this same concept today! It made her feel better that she wasn’t alone in her frustrations. I appreciate the tips and look forward to implementing them tomorrow and in our future lessons.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was encouraging for your daughter, Sita! No, she is not alone! I hope the tips and ideas here help, but if you need more suggestions, please feel free to ask.
Rocio
says:Thanks for these tips! They are really helpful, much appreciated!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Rocio! I’m pleased to hear they are really helpful for you.
amelia
says:i’m also new
Tracy
says:Thank you! This is such a struggle for my youngest. I always appreciate your extra tips and free downloads!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Tracy. I hope this is helpful for child, but if you need additional help or suggestions, please let me know.
Nadine K Clifford
says:Thank you for this information! I had no idea there was a name for this preventing sound discrimination!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Nadine! I’m glad this was informative for you.
Jennilyn
says:Thank you so much!!! We have people in the house that talk both ways so this was helpful. I noticed this week that my daughter had this issue. I’m so glad k found this blog post.
(I probably went through this 5 years ago with an older sibling and completely forgot) Haahaa
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJennilyn,
I’m glad you found this post and it’s helpful! It is a common issue, but something we don’t think about once we’ve mastered it.
Heather
says:Great tip!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you!
Katharine Gindin
says:These are very helpful. It sounds obvious, but I hadn’t thought to treat the words as homophones when you are working with someone who pronounces a short i and a short e word the same. Makes so much sense.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKatharine,
I’m glad this was helpful for you!
RaShell Southerland
says:This was so helpful! Thank you.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, RaShell!
Joyce
says:This is so helpful! Thank you for the tips!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was helpful, Joyce! You’re welcome.
Sandra
says:I teach K-2 ELA. This is great! Can’t wait to use it in small groups!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m so glad this will be helpful for your students, Sandra!
Caitlin
says:We’ve been having to review this a lot lately. Great tips – thank you!
Merry
says: Customer ServiceIt’s definitely tricky for a lot of people! I hope the tips help :-).
Heather
says:This is so helpful! We’re struggling with this now
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this is helpful, Heather!
Julie Herd
says:These are excellent tips and the activity is a fun reinforcement tool!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Julie!
Lori Wilson
says:This blog post is so helpful to me because this is something my 9 year old still struggles with. All About Reading and Spelling have really been a game changer for him in breaking through on learning, but weekly he misspells or says the i for e and vice versa. I am going to try these tricks. Thank you for your amazing program. It really has made my homeschooler a reader finally.
Angie
says:Definite tricky for kids when we pronounce them the same! Thanks fir the tips!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Angie! Yes, they are tricky.
Becca
says:This was very helpful. Thank you.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Becca.
Kelly Mazurak
says:Wonderful! Thank you for the extra practice sheets also! We LOVE AAR!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Kelly! I hope they will be helpful for you.
Rebecca
says:I’m so glad I saw this! This is one of the things my 7 year old is struggling with the most. Thanks for the info!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Rebecca. I’m glad this is helpful, but if you need more ideas about this or any other topic one of your children has trouble with, please let us know. We love to help!
Amy
says:Wow. This is extremely interesting. My young son has some difficulties pronouncing words. This will definitely help him.