Decoding and spelling exercises: /ɪ/ vs /aɪ/

Since the spelling of /ɪ/ and /aɪ/ is often the same, many students confuse these two sounds, even if they are able to pronounce them. For example, the word "determine" is often pronounced as instead of

I and Y at the beginning or the middle of a word
/ɪ/ /aɪ/
 * "i" as /ɪ/: big - bit - fill - fit - if - ill - in - inch - ink - inn - is - it - kill - kit - lick - print - quit - tip - wind (noun)
 * "y" as /ɪ/: gym - hymn - lynch - lynx - myth - sync
 * "i" as /aɪ/: bind - blind - child - climb - find - grind - I - I'll - I'm - I've - kind - mild - mind - pint - wild - wind (verb)
 * "igh" as /aɪ/: bright - fight - high - knight - light - might - night - right - sigh - sight - tight
 * "ig" as /aɪ/: sign

These words don't rhyme
 * limb - climb; print – pint

I and Y at the end of the word

 * "i" as /aɪ/: hi - Greek letters: chi - phi - pi - psi - xi
 * "y" as /aɪ/: by - cry - dry - fly - fry - my - shy - sky - sty - try - why

I with silent final E
I with magic E sounds /aɪ/
 * bike, fine, life, like, line, quite, side, time, while, wise, write

Ambiguous silent e
 * /ɪ/: give - live (v.)
 * /aɪ/: drive - live (adj.)

Y with silent final E
Y with magic E sounds /aɪ/
 * byte - hype - rhyme - style - thyme – type

Pattern vowel-consonant-vowel
A single consonant can mean anything, but a double consonant (or ck) means the sound is /ɪ/ (or /ə/) and not /aɪ/.


 * "i" as /ɪ/: independent - input - insult - solid - until
 * "y" as /ɪ/: crystal - homonym - synthetic - sympathy - system


 * "i" as /aɪ/: behind - bible - idle - library - remind - rewind
 * "ig" as /aɪ/: align - assign - benign - design - malign - resign
 * "y" as /aɪ/: cycle - encyclopaedia - encyclopedia - hyphen - myopia - psychologist - Wyoming
 * As a gerund:
 * "i" as /ɪ/: adding - going - playing - reading - studying
 * "yi" as /aɪ.ɪ/: die/dying - lie/lying

I and Y at the end of the word

 * "i" as /ɪ/ or /iː/: taxi
 * "y" as /ɪ/ or /iː/: any - astronomy - biology - bully - chemistry - city - company - country - early - easy - every - family - geology - geography - happy - heresy - many - multiply (adverb) - only - pity - prophecy - robbery - study - usually - very


 * "i" as /aɪ/: alibi - rabbi
 * "y" as /aɪ/: ally - apply - classify - July - multiply (verb) - prophesy - reply - satisfy - verify

These words don't rhyme
 * duly - July; rally – ally

I with silent final E
I with magic E sounds /aɪ/ Misleading silent e Ambiguous silent e
 * decide, decline, define, describe, despite, exercise, inside, invite, outside, provide, surprise
 * apologise - apologize, organise - organize, prioritise - prioritize, realise - realize, recognise - recognize, summarise – summarize
 * /ɪ/: definite, determine, discipline, engine, examine, famine, favorite, hyprocrite, imagine, indefinite, jasmine, medicine, promise
 * /ɪ/: active, alternative, adjective, effective, expensive, executive, justice, negative, notice, office, positive, practice, relative, service
 * /aɪ/: advice, alive, arrive, device, derive, survive

Y with silent final E
Y with magic E sounds /aɪ/
 * analyse/analyze - breathalyse/breathalyze - catalyse/catalyze - paralyse/paralyze

In combination with “r”
/ɪ/ /aɪ/
 * "i" as /ɪ/: miracle, mirror, spirit
 * "y" as /ɪ/: lyrics, myriad, pyramid, syringe, syrup
 * "i" as /aɪ/: environment, virus
 * "y" as /aɪ/: thyroid

Sequence /aɪə/
 * "i": acquire, desire, entire, fire, hire, inspire, iron /ˈaɪərn/, require, retire, tire, wire
 * "y": tyre

ie

 * /aɪ/: die - lie - tie


 * Unstressed final /ɪ/: movie
 * As a suffix to nouns or as a diminutive or familiar name (the same words can often be spelt y):
 * auntie/aunty - Bobbie/Bobby - caddie/caddy - hippie/hippy - hoodie/hoody - Jimmie/Jimmy - Johnnie/Johnny

ye

 * /aɪ/: dye - eye - rye

Vowel alternation
Many pairs of related words have /aɪ/ (or /aɪə/) in one of them and /ɪ/ in the other.


 * child - children; Christ - Christian; conspire - conspiracy; crime - criminal; decide - decision; drive - driven; finite - infinite; hide - hid; line - linear; precise - precision; resign /rɪˈzaɪn/ - resignation /ˌrezɪɡˈneɪʃən/; wild - wilderness;

Minimal pairs
/ɪ/ vs /aɪ/
 * bit - byte/bite; dinner - diner; fill - file; fit - fight; hit - height; ill - I'll/aisle/isle; kit - kite; knit - knight/night; lick - like; live (verb) - live (adj.); miss - mice; pin - pine; quit - quite; sin - sign/sine; sit - sight/site; still - style; will - while; win - wine; wind (noun) - wind (verb)

Unstressed /ɪ/ or /iː/ vs /aɪ/
 * apologies - apologise/apologize; prophecy - prophesy;

Heteronyms
Main article: Heteronym
 * live /lɪv/ (adj.) - /laɪv/ (adj.); minute /ˈmɪnɪt/ (60 seconds) - /maɪˈnjuːt/ (very small); multiply /ˈmʌltɪplɪ/ (adverb) - /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ (verb) ; wind /wɪnd/ (noun) - /waɪnd/ (verb)

Variant pronunciations
-isation, -ization
 * Br /aɪ/ Am /ə/
 * agile /ˈædʒaɪl, ˈædʒəl/
 * fertile /ˈfɜːrtaɪl, ˈfɜːrtəl/
 * fragile /ˈfrædʒaɪl, ˈfrædʒəl/
 * futile /ˈfjuːtaɪl, ˈfjuːtəl/
 * idyll /ˈɪdɪl, ˈaɪdəl/
 * mobile /ˈməʊbaɪl, ˈməʊbəl/
 * versatile /ˈvɜːrsətaɪl, ˈvɜːrsətəl/
 * characterisation, characterization /ˌkærəktəraɪˈzeɪʃən, ˌkærəktərəˈzeɪʃən/
 * civilisation, civilization /ˌsɪvəlaɪˈzeɪʃən, ˌsɪvələˈzeɪʃən/
 * improvisation /ˌɪmprəvaɪˈzeɪʃən, ɪmˌprɒvəˈzeɪʃən/
 * organisation, organization /ˌɔːrɡənaɪˈzeɪʃən, ˌɔːrɡənəˈzeɪʃən/


 * Br /ɪ/ Am /aɪ/
 * advertisement /ədˈvɜːrtɪsmənt, ˌædvərˈtaɪzmənt/
 * privacy /ˈprɪvəsɪ, ˈpraɪvəsɪ/
 * vitamin /ˈvɪtəmɪn, ˈvaɪtəmɪn/


 * Other
 * cyclic /ˈsaɪklɪk, ˈsɪklɪk/ - cyclical /ˈsaɪklɪkəl, ˈsɪklɪkəl/
 * direct /dəˈrekt, dɪˈrekt, daɪˈrekt/ - direction /dəˈrekʃən, dɪˈrekʃən, daɪˈrekʃən/ - director /dəˈrektər, dɪˈrektər, daɪˈrektər/ - directory
 * finance /ˈfaɪnæns, faɪˈnæns, fəˈnæns/
 * financial /faɪˈnænʃəl, fəˈnænʃəl/