Teaching air and are Words in Australian Phonics
Air and are both spell the /air/ vowel sound. Hair, fair, pair, chair — then care, share, dare, square. Plus the exception sets: bear, pear, wear, there, where.
Used by teachers in NSW · VIC · QLD · WA · SA · ACT
The phonics concept
Understanding air and are
One phoneme, four spellings. Air and are are the two main representations. Bear/pear/wear and there/where are the key exception sets to flag explicitly. Teach in order from most common to least common.
The /air/ phoneme: air, are, and more
The /air/ vowel sound is spelled air in hair, fair, pair, chair, stair, repair, affair, and lair. It is spelled are in care, share, bare, dare, square, aware, compare, and prepare. Additionally, the ear spelling represents /air/ in bear, pear, wear, swear, and tear. The ere spelling represents /air/ in there and where. Teaching air and are as the two main spellings, then introducing the ear and ere variants as distinct exception sets, is the most systematic approach.
Teaching sequence: air first, then are, then exceptions
Introduce air before are because the air spelling is a compact three-letter unit that maps directly to the phoneme with no split digraph complexity. Hair, fair, pair, and chair are ideal first words. Once air is secure, introduce are as the split-digraph version: care, share, bare, dare. Students who have already learned a_e words will recognise the pattern. After both main spellings are established, introduce the ear=/air/ exception set (bear, pear, wear) and the ere=/air/ set (there, where) as explicitly flagged contrast groups.
The ear homograph: three pronunciations
The ear spelling has three distinct pronunciations that students must learn to distinguish by context. Ear=/eer/ is the most common: ear, fear, hear, near, year, clear. Ear=/air/ appears in bear, pear, wear, swear, and tear (rip). Ear=/er/ appears in earth, learn, heard, early, earn, search, and pearl. This triple ambiguity means that when students encounter an unfamiliar ear word, they need a strategy for trying each pronunciation in order and selecting the one that produces a real word. Teach the three sets explicitly as labelled contrast groups.
Year-level guidance and curriculum alignment
The air/are patterns are typically introduced in Year 2-3 after the er/ir/ur family is established, as the fourth phase of r-controlled vowel teaching. The ear=/air/ and ere=/air/ exception sets are usually addressed in Year 3-4. The Australian Curriculum: English addresses r-controlled vowels and alternative graphemes for vowel phonemes as part of the phonics and word knowledge strand. At SoundSnapp, air and are words appear in the r-controlled vowel levels within the /play practice modes.
Word lists
/air/ Spelling Patterns at a Glance
Three groups: the air unit, the are split-digraph pattern, and the ear/ere exception sets. Teach in order and flag the exceptions explicitly.
air
/air/ sound
Word-final vowel unit — the most compact spelling
are
/air/ sound
Split digraph pattern — a_e with r after the vowel
ear / ere
/air/ sound
Exception sets — flag these explicitly
Practice modes
How SoundSnapp Supports air and are Teaching
R-Controlled Vowel Tiles at /play
SoundSnapp's practice modes include the /air/ phoneme with Australian-accented audio. Students hear the vowel as naturally produced in Australian English and identify the correct grapheme pattern.
- air and are phoneme tiles with Australian-accented audio
- Non-rhotic /air/ pronunciation modelled throughout
- Hear & Find mode for /air/ word discrimination
- Covers air, are, and ear=/air/ exception words
- No logins or setup required
Assessment Mode
Tracks /air/ phoneme accuracy for each student across air, are, and exception words, identifying those who need additional practice with the pattern or its variants.
- Per-student /air/ accuracy data
- Identifies gaps in air vs are vs exception words
- Progress tracking across r-controlled vowel sequence
- Progress data across sessions
- 7-day free trial
Pricing
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Questions & answers
Frequently Asked Questions
When do you use air vs are for the /air/ sound?
Both air and are can represent the /air/ phoneme, but they appear in different word positions. Air appears as a three-letter vowel unit at the end of a syllable or word: hair, fair, pair, chair, stair, repair, affair, lair. Are appears in the middle or end of words with a final e: care, share, bare, dare, square, aware, compare, prepare, declare. The are pattern can also be described as a split digraph (a_e) where the r follows the a before the final e. Neither pattern has a simple positional rule as clean as oi vs oy, so direct teaching of the most common words in each set is the most reliable approach.
Are there other spellings of the /air/ sound?
Yes. The /air/ phoneme also appears in the ear spelling in bear, pear, wear, swear, and tear (when meaning to rip). This ear=/air/ set is directly opposite to the more common ear=/eer/ pattern (ear, fear, hear, year) and is a significant source of student decoding errors. The ere spelling also represents /air/ in there, where, here (some accents), and elsewhere. The eir spelling appears in their and heir. Of these, the ear=/air/ and ere=/air/ sets are the most important to teach explicitly because they involve common high-frequency words. Introduce them after air and are are well established, in Year 3-4.
What /air/ words should I teach first?
For the air spelling, begin with hair, fair, and pair because they are short, high-frequency, and have no additional complexity. Chair adds an initial consonant digraph. Stair adds an initial consonant cluster. Repair is a useful multisyllabic extension word. For the are spelling, begin with care, bare, and dare because they are short and follow the familiar split-digraph pattern students already know from a_e words. Share and square add consonant clusters before are. Aware and compare introduce are in a multisyllabic context. Bear, pear, and wear are the essential ear=/air/ words to teach early because they are all high-frequency. There and where are the essential ere=/air/ words.
Related phonics topics
Build confident /air/ knowledge across Year 2–4.
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