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The Schwa /ə/

The Laziest Vowel Sound in English

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PHONICS CONCEPT

The schwa /ə/ is the most common vowel sound in English. It is the lazy "uh" sound that appears in unstressed syllables. Any vowel: A, E, I, O, or U: can make the schwa sound. Words in this video: sofa, panda, alarm, police, cabbage, carpet, maggot, and salad.

Words with a Schwa

SPELLING WORDS

From the video

sofa panda alarm police cabbage carpet maggot salad

More schwa words

about lemon seven button ribbon taken pencil

Spelling Word List

15 words containing the schwa /ə/ sound: remember, any vowel can be lazy!

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The Schwa

HOW IT WORKS
Any Vowel Can Be Lazy and Say /ə/ (uh)
Asofa, panda
Ecarpet, lemon
Ipencil, April
Opolice, lemon
Ubutton, circus

The schwa is an unstressed vowel that sounds like "uh". When a syllable is not stressed (not said loudly or clearly), the vowel in that syllable often relaxes into the schwa sound. It is the most common vowel sound in English and is found in almost every multi-syllable word.

Things to Remember

IMPORTANT TO KNOW
Key facts about the schwa
unstressed only

The schwa only appears in unstressed syllables. If a syllable is stressed (said with emphasis), the vowel keeps its regular short or long sound. In alarm, the first A is unstressed (schwa) but the second syllable ARM is stressed and keeps its R-controlled sound.

hard to spell

The schwa is the trickiest sound to spell in English because any vowel can make it. The word panda ends in "uh" but is spelled with A. Lemon ends in "un" but is spelled with ON. You must learn the spelling: the sound alone won't tell you which vowel to use.

same vowel, two sounds

The same vowel letter can be a schwa in one word and its regular sound in another. Compare: a in about = schwa (/uh/), but a in able = long /ay/. The difference is whether the syllable is stressed or unstressed.

Lyrics

The Schwa /ə/: Phonics Song

Are you ready to learn about the schwa?

CHORUS

Here we go. Here we go.
We all know the vowels from the A B C.
But sometimes the sound a vowel can make can be lazy.
In an unstressed syllable in a word, a schwa may be heard.

VERSE 1

Uh!
sofa: stress: SO-fa: sounds: s... uh
panda: stress: PAN-da: sounds: p... uh d
alarm: stress: a-LARM: sounds: uh r
police: stress: po-LICE: sounds: puh... lees

CHORUS

We all know the vowels from the A B C.
But sometimes the sound a vowel can make can be lazy.
In an unstressed syllable in a word, a schwa may be heard.

VERSE 2

Uh!
cabbage: stress: CAB-bage: sounds: c... uh
carpet: stress: CAR-pet: sounds: c... uh t
maggot: stress: MAG-got: sounds: m... uh
salad: stress: SAL-ad: sounds: s... uh

CHORUS

We all know the vowels from the A B C.
But sometimes the sound a vowel can make can be lazy.
In an unstressed syllable in a word, a schwa may be heard.

Mr. Spelling. Bye-bye.