This helps you check if the first letter is a consonant or a vowel

Check First Letter

vowels = ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u']
word = raw_input('Enter a word:')
try:
  word = word.lower()
  is_vowel = word[0] in vowels
    if (is_vowel):
      print("Vowel")
    else:
      print("Consonant")
except:
  print "something was wrond with the word you entered"