⟨ie⟩

⟨ie⟩ is a vowel digraph that occurs in English.

⟨ier⟩ and ⟨iel⟩ are dealt with separately.

Table

Phoneme	Example words	Notes
Stressed ꜰʟᴇᴇᴄᴇ vowel	achieve, belief, believe, brief, chief, field, grief, hygiene, Marie, niece, piece, rabies, relief, relieve, series, skied, thief
Stressed ᴘʀɪᴄᴇ vowel	die, lie, pie, tie allies, cries, flies, fries, skies, spies applied; cries, cried; denies, denied; dries, dried; flies; fries, fried; identifies, identified; implies, implied; justifies, justified; modifies, modified; multiplies, multiplied; occupies, occupied; qualifies, qualified; relies, relied; satisfies, satisfied; specifies, specified; relies, relied; spies, spied; supplies, supplied; tries, tried; verifies, verified
Stressed ᴋɪᴛ vowel	sieve
Stressed ᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ vowel	friend	A common exception
Unstressed ᴋɪᴛ vowel to schwa	mischievous
𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱ʏ vowel	auntie, hippie, movie, Stephanie carries, carried; hurries, hurried; marries, married; studies, studied; tidies, tidied; worries, worried; apologies, babies, berries, cities, companies, countries, families, ferries, hoodies, ladies, parties, rubies, stories	At the ends of words As a mutation of ⟨y⟩ (vowel monograph) in verbs when conjugated with {-ed} or third person {-s} As a mutation of ⟨y⟩ (vowel monograph) in nouns when inflected with plural {-s}.

"ie" in two separate syllables

⟨ie⟩ can occur across syllable boundaries, which is by definition, not a digraph.

Includes: ancient, efficient, patient, sufficient

/aɪ.ə/

• anxiety, client, diet, quiet, science, society, variety
• drier, flier, supplier
• comparatives: drier

/aɪ.ɪ/

• superlatives: driest

/ɪ.ə/ or /iː.ə/

The period indicates separate syllables, and here it is used to distinguish /ɪ/+/ə/ and phoneme /ɪə/).

• alien, audience, barrier, convenience, convenient, experience, leniency, nutrient
• Derived forms of -y adjectives

• comparatives: busier, earlier, easier, funnier, happier, prettier, sunnier, uglier

Others

Occurs across syllable boundaries, and is therefore not a digraph:

• /iːə/: skier
• /iːe/: orient
• Derived forms of -y adjectives

• superlatives: /ɪɪ/ or /iːɪ/ busiest, earliest, easiest, funniest, happiest, prettiest, sunniest, ugliest