Monosyllabic English words with 'ee': A-F

eel
bee
fee
flee
free
knee
beech
beef
been
beep
beer
beet
bleed
bleep
breech
breed
breeze
cheek
cheep
cheer
cheese
deed
deem
deep
deer
feed
feel
freeze

Monosyllabic English words with 'ea': A-M

A * is used when the pronunciations is not /i:/. Generally pronounced /ɛ:/ before the Great Vowel Shift, which rose to /e:/ then /i:/.

each
ear
earl*
earn*
earth*
ease
east
eat
eave

flea

beach
bead
beak
beam
bean
bear*
beard
beast
beat
bleach
bleak
bleat
breach
bread*
breadth*
break*
bream
breast*
breath*
breathe
cease
dead*
deaf*
deal
dean
dear
dearth*
death*
dread*
dream

fear
feast
feat
freak
gear
gleam
glean
grease
great*
head*
heal
health*
heap
hear
heard*
hearse*
heart*
hearth*
heat
heath
heave
jeans
leach
lead[*]
leaf
league
leak
lean
leap
learn*
lease
least
leave
leaves
mead
meal
mean
means
meant*
meat

Others:

feather*
heather*
heaven*
jealous*
leather*
leaven*
meadow*
measure*

The Great Vowel Shift

The long/stressed vowels of Old/Middle English:

front		back
i:		u:
e:		o:
ɛ:		ɔ:
	a:

Typical orthography for these was as follows:

i:	y,i	mine,sight
u:	ou,u	house
e:	ee,e,e_e	sheep, me, mete
o:	oo,o	boot
ɛ:	ea,e	break, beak
ɔ:	oa	loaf
a:	aa,a	name

The Great Vowel Shift involved everything moving up a slot:

• i: -> ai
• u: -> au (unless followed by a labial consonant p/b/m)
• e: -> i:
• o: -> u:
• ɛ: -> e: -> i:
• ɔ: -> o:
• a: -> ɛ: -> e: