Vowel Team ai and ay

A vowel team is two letters that work together to make one vowel sound. The teams ai and ay both say long a. Use the place in the word as your clue. Ai usually sits in the middle: 'rain', 'tail', 'paint', 'train'.

Ay usually sits at the end: 'day', 'play', 'stay', 'tray'. That's because English words rarely end in i. Read: 'We play in the rain all day. ' When you spell a long a word, ask: is the sound in the middle or at the end?

• 1ai and ay both say long a.
• 2ai is usually in the middle.
• 3ay is usually at the end.