original = raw_input('Enter a word:')
if len(original) > 0 and original.isalpha():
    word = original.lower()
    first = str(word)[0]
    print first
    if str(first) == "a" or "e" or "i" or "u" or "o":
        print "vowel"
else:
    print "consonant"
I want to check if a word starts with a vowel or consonant. However, this part does not work: if str(first) == "a" or "e" or "i" or "u" or "o"
So how would you check if the first letter is either "a" or "e" or "i" or "u" or "o"?
Use in
if len(original) and original.isalpha():
    word = original.lower()
    first = word[0]
    print first
    if first in ('a','e','i','o','u'):
        print "vowel"
    else:
        print "consonant"
If you were trying to use OR clause you must use like this BUT it's not the better pythonic way:
if first =='a' or first =='e' or first =='i' or first =='o' or first =='u':
                        if str(first) == "a" or "e" or "i" or "u" or "o":
should moditied to
if str(first) in ("a", "e", "i", "o", "u"):
Python has a explicit demand on indent. Make sure you have a right indent.
original = raw_input('Enter a word:')
if len(original) > 0 and original.isalpha():
    word = original.lower()
    first = str(word)[0]
    print first
    if str(first) in ("a", "e", "i", "o", "u"):
        print "vowel"
    else:
        print "consonant"
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