As a rule of thumb, the Light L is the L at the beginning or before a vowel sound. Example: light, love .
The dark L occurs at the end of the word or after a vowel sound. Example: ball, pull.
in other words, the light ‘L’ occurs when you have the letter ‘L’ in the beginning of words & syllables whereas the dark ‘L’ occurs when the letter ‘L’ is positioned towards the word & syllable endings.
To make a good dark /l/ then, make an /ʊ/ sound, whilst putting the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge behind the teeth.
Watch the video to see how each of those ‘L’ sounds is pronounced.
Go ahead with practicing words and sentences below: