The Schwa: The Lazy Vowel Sound

Recognize the schwa, the soft 'uh' sound vowels make in unstressed syllables.

The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English, yet it has no letter of its own. It is a soft, lazy 'uh' sound that appears in unstressed syllables, and any vowel can make it. In 'about', the a says 'uh': uh-BOUT. In 'pencil', the i says 'uh': PEN-sul. In 'lemon', the o says 'uh': LEM-un. In 'circus', the u says 'uh'.

The schwa happens because when one syllable gets the stress, the others relax. This makes reading tricky, because 'lemon' does not sound like 'lee-mon'. When a long word sounds strange as you decode it, try relaxing the unstressed vowels into 'uh'. Often the real word pops out.

• 1Schwa = a soft 'uh' sound in unstressed syllables.
• 2Any vowel letter can make the schwa.
• 3Relax unstressed vowels to 'uh' to find the real word.