Which term describes a pair or group of adjacent vowels that represent a single sound or phoneme?

• A. Vowel team
• B. Diphthongs
• C. Silent letter patterns
• D. Phonemes

Answer: (A)

Two adjacent vowels that together spell one sound are called a vowel team. This broad term describes any pairing of vowels that acts as a single phoneme in a word, such as oa in boat or ea in team, where the two letters work as a unit to create one sound. It’s more general than diphthongs, which refer specifically to sounds that glide from one vowel to another within the same syllable; not every vowel pair produces a glide, but all vowel teams yield one sound. The other options don’t describe this pattern: phonemes are the sounds themselves, and silent letter patterns involve letters that aren’t pronounced. So the best term for a pair or group of adjacent vowels representing a single sound is a vowel team.