Sound Right

/æ/ — the CAT vowel as in cat, back, man

The main spelling

The letter ⟨a⟩ covers 99% of words with this sound.

cat that back have had can man family last understand
If you see the letter ⟨a⟩ in a short, closed syllable (ending in a consonant), it's almost always this /æ/ sound.

Unusual spellings (~1%)

⟨au⟩

A handful of common words use ⟨au⟩ for this sound.

aunt laugh draught

⟨ai⟩

Rare — mostly in names and borrowed words.

plaid

⟨i⟩

From French.

meringue