Open and Closed Syllables
Basics on the topic Open and Closed Syllables
Do you want to find out how to identify open and closed syllables? Learn to correctly divide words into open and closed syllables using our video and exercises!
Open and Closed Syllables – Definition
All words in English can be divided into syllables. Let’s have a look at the definitions of syllables and the different forms that they appear in.
Syllables are words or word parts that take one puff of air to say. For example, the word cat has one syllable, while the word dinosaur has three.
There are different types of syllables. The most common types of syllables are open and closed syllables. An open syllable always ends in a vowel, and that vowel always makes a long sound, which means it says its name.
A closed syllable has a short vowel and ends in a consonant.
Identifying Open and Closed Syllables
To identify open and closed syllables in the word, we need to follow these two steps:
- First, split the word based on the syllables it has.
- Then, look at the letters. If a syllable ends with a vowel and it is long, it is an open syllable. If it ends in a consonant and the vowel in a syllable is short, it is a closed syllable.
Open and Closed Syllables – Examples
Let’s have a look at some examples of words with open and closed syllables. We’ll start with learning to identify open and closed syllables in the word paper.
First, we need to divide it into syllables. There are two syllables in the word paper: pa- and -per. Now, let’s look at the letters. The first syllable, pa-, is an open syllable because it ends in a vowel and has a long sound. The second syllable, -per is closed, because it has a short sound and ends in a consonant.
The word pillow also has two syllables: pil- and -low. When we look at the letters, we can see that both syllables end in consonants and have short vowels. It means that both syllables in the word pillow are closed.
What about the word tomato? First, we divide it into three syllables: to-, -ma- and -to. Then, we look at the letters. All three syllables end with vowels and have long sounds. Therefore, all three vowels in tomato are long.
Open and Closed Syllables – Lists
To practice more or to find good examples for your open and closed syllables anchor chart, take a look at these lists of words with two closed syllables and words with one open and one closed syllable:
| Words with Two Closed Syllables |
Words with One Open and One Closed Syllable |
|---|---|
| basket | bacon |
| dentist | broken |
| fossil | lemon |
| insect | meter |
| jacket | robot |
| middle | rocket |
| pencil | silent |
| trumpet | tiger |
Open and Closed Syllables – Summary
Now let’s review what we have learned about open and closed syllables.
Syllables are words or word parts that take one puff of air to say. There are open and closed syllables. Open syllables end in a vowel and have a long sound. Closed syllables have a short vowel sound and end in a consonant.
To identify open and closed syllables follow these steps:
- Split the word into syllables based on the number of syllables it has.
- Look at the letters (consonants and vowels) in each syllable.
- If a syllable ends with a vowel and it is long, it is an open syllable; f it ends in a consonant and the vowel in a syllable is short, it is a closed syllable.
Now you know everything about open and closed syllables! For more practice, check out our video and exercises.
Frequently Asked Questions about Open and Closed Syllables
Transcript Open and Closed Syllables
Dee and Kala were hiking in the woods one day when they discovered a vegetable festival! They decide to check it out and explore all sorts of food (...) but wait (...) suddenly it's raining vegetables! This reminds Dee of a game he played where he had to divide the vegetables! Let's learn about Open and Closed Syllables to see if it helps Dee and Kala with the vegetables. You might already know that syllables are words or word parts that take one puff of air to say... and that there are different kinds of syllables. Today we will learn about two types of syllables in words, 'open' and 'closed'! When you look at words that have two syllables like 'robot' what do you notice about the VOWELS? The first
Open and Closed Syllables exercise
-
Highlight each syllable.
Hints- How many syllables does the word donut have?
- Syllables are words or word parts that take one puff of air to say.
- The word donut has 2 syllables.
- Now, let's decide if the syllables are open or closed syllables. Do you remember the rules for open and closed syllables?
- Open syllables always end in a vowel, and that vowel says its name, so it makes a long sound.
- Closed syllables always end in a consonant, and the vowel in the middle is short.
SolutionThe word donut has 2 syllables.
- The first syllable, "do" is an open syllable because it ends in a vowel and has a long sound.
- The second syllable "nut" is closed, because it has a short vowel and ends with a consonant.
-
Matching: Words and Syllables
HintsLook at each word. Count the syllables. Decide if each syllable is open or closed.
- The word potato has 3 syllables.
- How can we tell if these syllables are open or closed?
- Open syllables end in a long vowel that says their name. Closed syllables end in a consonant, and the vowel in the middle is short.
Solution- Look at each word.
- Count the syllables.
- Decide if each syllable is open or closed.
-
How many open and closed syllables do each of these words have?
HintsFirst, decide how many syllables each word has. Then, decide if each syllable is open or closed.
- When you look at words that have two syllables like tennis, what do you notice about the vowels?
- How can we use what we learned about long and short vowels to help us sort this word?
- The word tennis can be divided into two syllables ten and nis.
- How can we use what we learned about open and closed syllables to sort this word?
Solution- One Open Syllable, One Closed Syllable - bacon, tiger, robot
- Two Open Syllables - photo
- Two Closed Syllables - muffin, tennis, cabin
-
Find the word.
HintsLook at the list of words. Which words have 2 syllables? We can eliminate the words with more or less than 2 syllables.
We know that the first syllable in our mystery word is open and the second syllable is closed. How can you tell if a syllable is open or closed?
SolutionCorrect:
The word paper has 2 syllables. The first syllable, "pa" is an open syllable because it ends in a vowel and has a long sound. The second syllable "per" is closed, because it has a short vowel and ends with a consonant.
Incorrect:
Piglet and seven each have 2 syllables; however, their first and second syllables are both closed.
Bus has one syllable and it is closed.
Tomato has three syllables. The first, second, and third syllables are all open. -
Open or Closed Syllable? Label each word.
HintsThe words acorn and radish have 2 syllables each. How can we tell if a syllable is open or closed?
How can we tell if a syllable is open or closed?
- Open syllables always end in a vowel, and that vowel always says its name, so it makes a long sound.
- Closed syllables always end in a consonant, and the vowel in the middle is short.
SolutionThe word acorn has two syllables.
- The first syllable, "a" is an open syllable because it ends in a vowel and has a long sound.
- The second syllable "corn" is closed, because it has a short vowel and ends with a consonant.
- "Rad" has a short vowel and ends with a consonant, so it is a closed syllable.
- "Ish" also has a short vowel and ends with a consonant, so it is a closed syllable.
-
Let's analyze the word volcano.
HintsFirst, count the number of syllables in the word. Then, decide whether each syllable is open or closed.
The word volcano has 3 syllables. How can we tell whether each syllable is open or closed?
Open syllables always end in a vowel, and that vowel always says its name, so it makes a long sound. Closed syllables always end in a consonant, and the vowel in the middle is short.
SolutionTrue:
- This word has 3 syllables
- This word has 1 closed syllable, and 2 open syllables in total.
- The 1st syllable is closed, the 2nd syllable is open, and the 3rd syllable is open.
- This word has 2 syllables.
- This word has 4 syllables.
- This word has 2 open, and 2 closed syllables in total.
