The vowels in this team work together to make a vowel sound. It can appear at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Its most common sound is /ē/, as in “eat”.

/ē/, /ē/, /ē/, eat

When the vowel team EA is at the end of a word, usually a one-syllable word, it says /ē/, as in “sea”.

However, in some proper names, the vowel team isn’t working together and the A may be reduced to a schwa, as in Lea.