Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable
Main DifferenceMany people mess up when it comes to pronunciation of different words and the syllables they possess as sometime a short word can have two syllables and long words can have one syllable. The longest one-syllable word ‘screeched’ consists up of nine letters, on the other hand word like ‘again’ consists of 5 letters has two syllables. With this the question arises what exactly a syllable is. A syllable is a single unit of written or spoken word that brings out a singular, uninterrupted sound. It can either be a single letter or the combination of letters, what all it does is, it produces an unbroken sound, which combines in to form different words. Based on the number of syllables in a word, syllables can be divided into four types: monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic and polysyllabic. On basis of formation there are six types of syllables: closed syllables, open syllables, silent-e syllables, vowel combination syllables, vowel-r syllables, and consonant-l-e syllables. Here we will be differentiating it between Open and closed syllable. In an open syllable, nothing comes after the vowel, whereas in a closed syllable nothing comes after the consonant. In closed syllable the vowel is followed up by the consonant always. An open syllable is named as this because it is not 'closed' at the end with the consonant. That is why the open syllables produce long sounds and close syllables produce short sounds.
Difference Between Open Syllable and Closed Syllable
Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable
In an open syllable nothing comes after the vowel, whereas in a closed syllable nothing comes after the consonant.
Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable
In closed syllable the vowel is followed up by the consonant always.
Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable
An open syllable is named as this because it is not 'closed' at the end with the consonant.
Open Syllable vs. Closed Syllable
Open syllables produce long sounds and close syllables produce short sounds.
Comparison Chart
| Open Syllable | Closed Syllable |
| In an open syllable nothing comes after the vowel. | In a closed syllable nothing comes after the consonant. |
| Name | |
| An open syllable is named as this because it is not 'closed' at the end with the consonant. | It s referred as 'closed' as the consonant follows up the vowel and comes in the end of word. |
| Sound | |
| Long | Short |
| Example | |
| 'go, no he, she' | 'bob, rob, bed, bat |
What is Open Syllable?
Open Syllable is syllable consisting of only one vowel and that too coming in the end of word. The word ‘open syllable’ is assigned to these type of syllables as they are not kept close with usage of consonant in the end of words. As we know that vowel produce open and long sounds, same happens in the case. For instance: ‘go, no he, she’ are the few of the words having open syllable, all have one vowel in it and that too comes in the end of the word. Although in some cases, vowels on their own are also considered as open syllables as they produce a long and prominent sound of their own. Example: “e” in “elite” or the “a” in “able, are the open syllable themselves.
What is Closed Syllable?
Closed Syllable is the syllable that also consists of one vowel, though that vowel is always bounded up with the consonant in end of the word. This syllable is referred as ‘closed’ as the consonant follows up the vowel and comes in the end of word and makes it relatively a shorter sound as compare to the open syllables. On the other hand, vowels in the closed syllable didn’t sound similar to the name of the letter. Example of closed syllable :’bob, rob, bed, bat’ are the few of the words having one vowel bound with the consonant in the end. A word can also have more than one closed syllable in some cases, here are the few examples of this: ‘dentist, contact, happen, predict, combat‘.
