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 \*/ˈdetərmaɪn/ instead of /dɪˈtɜːrmɪn/.

### I and Y at the beginning or the middle of a word

/ɪ/

* "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

/aɪ/

* "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

## Several syllables

### I and Y at the beginning or the middle of a word

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/.

Other patterns
* "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*BrE* - 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/

* decide, decline, define, describe, despite, exercise, inside, invite, outside, provide, surprise
* apologise*BrE* - apologize, organise*BrE* - organize, prioritise*BrE* - prioritize, realise*BrE* - realize, recognise*BrE* - recognize, summarise*BrE* – summarize

Misleading silent e

* /ɪ/: definite, determine, discipline, engine, examine, famine, favorite, hyprocrite, imagine, indefinite, jasmine, medicine, promise

Ambiguous silent e

* /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*BrE*/analyze*AmE* - breathalyse*BrE*/breathalyze*AmE* - catalyse*BrE*/catalyze*AmE* - paralyse*BrE*/paralyze*AmE*
## In combination with “r”

/ɪ/

* "i" as /ɪ/: miracle, mirror, spirit
* "y" as /ɪ/: lyrics, myriad, pyramid, syringe, syrup

/aɪ/

* "i" as /aɪ/: environment, virus
* "y" as /aɪ/: thyroid

Sequence /aɪə/

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

Br /aɪ/ Am /ə/
* agile /ˈædʒaɪl,*BrE* ˈædʒəl*AmE*/
* fertile /ˈfɜːrtaɪl,*BrE* ˈfɜːrtəl*AmE*/
* fragile /ˈfrædʒaɪl,*BrE* ˈfrædʒəl*AmE*/
* futile /ˈfjuːtaɪl,*BrE* ˈfjuːtəl*AmE*/
* idyll /ˈɪdɪl,*BrE* ˈaɪdəl*AmE*/
* mobile /ˈməʊbaɪl,*BrE* ˈməʊbəl*AmE*/
* versatile /ˈvɜːrsətaɪl,*BrE* ˈvɜːrsətəl*AmE*/

-isation, -ization

* characterisation,*BrE* characterization /ˌkærəktəraɪˈzeɪʃən,*BrE* ˌkærəktərəˈzeɪʃən*AmE*/
* civilisation,*BrE* civilization /ˌsɪvəlaɪˈzeɪʃən,*BrE* ˌsɪvələˈzeɪʃən*AmE*/
* improvisation /ˌɪmprəvaɪˈzeɪʃən,*BrE* ɪmˌprɒvəˈzeɪʃən*AmE*/
* organisation,*BrE* organization /ˌɔːrɡənaɪˈzeɪʃən,*BrE* ˌɔːrɡənəˈzeɪʃən*AmE*/

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

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

## See also

* Decoding the letter I
* Decoding the letter Y
* Decoding exercises: "ise"
* So-called “long i”
* So-called “short i”