ay Phonogram

Phonograms are letters that stand for a single speech sound.
Phonograms stick together.
They work with each other to make one sound.
The letters ay are a phonogram. They make the “A” sound.

say, play, may, tray, away

 

The ay phonogram isn’t picky. It can be found in the middle or the end of a word.

crayon, daytime, playing, ray, pray

 

When to Use ay Phonogram

When you hear the “A” sound at the end of a word most of the time you will use the ay phonogram.

Wrong: sai
Right: say

Wrong: plai
Right: play

Wrong: mai
Right: may

 

Exercise 1

Which word is spelled correctly?

1) say, sai, sae, saye

2) grai, gray, graye, grae

3) trae, traey, tray, trai

4) pay, pai, pia, pae, paye

5) maye, maey, mai, may

6) bai, baey, bay, bei

7) wae, wai, waiy, way

8) lay, lai, lae, lawe, liay

9) streye, strai, stray, strei

10) dae, dai, day, daye, dei





 

Answers:
Say, gray, tray, pay, may, bay, way, lay, stray, day

 

Exercise 2

Complete the sentence with words from the list below.

Word list: stray, birthday, hay, gray, maybe, play,
swayed, tray, say, swayed

1) Do not ____ ball in the house.

2) _____ I will be a doctor when I grow up.

3) Can we go to the park to ____?

4) If the puppies _____ from the path they may get lost.

5) Cows eat grass and horses eat ___.

6) The girls ______ to the sound of the music.

7) The ____ clouds hung over the carnival but it didn’t rain.

8) On her _________ she will be ten years old.

9) How do you ___ hello in Spanish?

10) I will eat my breakfast in bed so put it on the ____.







Answers:
1) play, 2)Maybe, 3)play, 4)stray, 5)hay, 6)swayed, 7)gray, 8)birthday, 9)say, 10)tray

 

Exercise 3

Exercise 3

Compare the words in parenthesis. Pick the correct spelling for each sentence.

1) Finish your homework now, do not (delai/delay).

2) (Playing/Plaiing) games with the baby is a good idea.

3) “It’s (okay/okai),” Bill said.

4) The (maior/mayor) shook hands with all of the people.

5) (Yesterdai/Yesterday) the price of milk was lower.

6) (Lay/Lai) the baby on the bed.

7) We (stayed/staied) home from school (todai/today).

8) During the (holidai/holiday) season we give gifts to each other.

9) We (always/always) have ice cream after dinner.

10) The class made a volcano out of (clai/clay).







Answers:
1) delay, 2)Playing, 3)okay, 4)Mayor, 5)Yesterday, 6)Lay, 7)stayed, today 8)holiday, 9)always, 10)clay

 

Exercise 4

Unscramble the words below.

1) yadhlio

2) terdayesy

3) ladey

4) aawy

5) rayg

6) raty

7) doaty

8) beaym

9) nigyapl

10) aswy







Answers:
1) holiday, 2)yesterday, 3)delay, 4)away, 5)gray, 6)tray, 7)today, 8)maybe, 9)playing,10)sway