It looks like one thing, but it sounds like another! To make an /e/ sound, hold the tongue in about the middle of the mouth. It is shorter when in comes before a voiceless consonant than when it comes before a voiced consonant. Some linguists consider this a diphthong since there is a slight raising of the tongue towards the end of the sound.
I’m gonna be honest. This is one of the ones that drives me crazy because it looks like one sound and it makes another. The sound that we’re looking at here is /e/ To make an /e/ sound leave your mouth quite open and push your tongue up and back. /e/ Let’s look at some examples. Before a voiceless consonant: hate ate cake lake chafe lace safe. And some examples before a voiced consonant: grey kale wage vein snail pail gave And let’s look at some sentences: Jane hated, but ate, grey cake. That does not sound good… a gray cake. Rachel ate lake snails in vain. If you’d like some more practice with this sound, look below.