Listen to the pronunciation of the word. Long vowels say their name, such as the "e" sound in "feet." Short vowels do not say their name.
Look for words with the C-V-C spelling pattern. Words that follow the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant spelling pattern typically have short vowel sounds. Examples of words that have the C-V-C pattern are bed, cat, hat, hit and ball.
Watch for words that have double consonants and a suffix such as "ing," "ed" or "er." Words that require the doubling of a consonant before adding a suffix make short vowels sounds. For example, planner, hitting and committed all have short vowel sounds.