Phonics
How sounds and letters connect, why it works, and what to practice at home. Start with the guide, then take the word lists.
How-toExplainerFeaturedMy Child Knows Letter Sounds But Can't Sound Out WordsThe most common place children get stuck learning to read. Why it happens, and the techniques that fix it.Phonics
All phonics resources
WorksheetsHow-toExplainerWhich letters to start with, how to say each sound, and what to do when they are not sticking.
How-toExplainerThe six stages phonics runs through, what to look for at each one, and how to tell when your child is ready to move on.
How-toWhat CVC words and word families are, when your child is ready, and a six-step way to teach them that goes past the family.
How-toExplainerTwo letters that spell one sound, the six your child will meet first, and how to teach them without turning ship into s-h-i-p.
How-toExplainerTwo letters that spell one vowel sound, the teams your child meets first, and why when two vowels go walking is only half true.
How-toExplainerThe four steps in order, why rhyming is not a gate in front of phonics, and what to do when your child can hear a rhyme but cannot make one.
How-toGuideRhyming games you can play with nothing at all, why songs do so much of the work, and what to look for in one that runs on a screen.
WorksheetsHow-toExplainerThe five long vowel sounds, the four ways English spells each one, and how to teach them once your child has the short vowels.
How-toExplainerThree letters, one sound. The three a young child actually meets are tch, dge and igh, and two of them follow the same rule.
GuideYou can teach a child to read without paying anything. What is genuinely worth using, and the one point at which paying starts to make sense.
Word listWorksheetsTwo words rhyme when they sound the same from the vowel onward, like cat, hat and bat. Rhyming is something a child hears before they can read, so the words here are grouped by their ending and the worksheets use pictures and cards rather than writing.
Word listWorksheetsShort a is the sound at the start of ant and apple and in the middle of cat, map and bag. It is the first vowel sound most children learn, and these are the words to learn it on.
Word listWorksheetsShort e is the sound at the start of egg and in the middle of bed, hen and net. It is the vowel children most often swap with short i, and it is the one with the fewest words of its own.
Word listWorksheetsShort i is the sound at the start of in and igloo and in the middle of pig, lid and six. It is the vowel most often confused with short e, and telling the two apart is what this page is really for.
Word listWorksheetsShort o is the sound in hot, pot and mop, and at the start of octopus. It is the roundest of the five short vowels, said with the mouth open and the jaw dropped.
Word listWorksheetsShort u is the sound at the start of up and umbrella and in the middle of bug, sun and cup. It is the shortest and most relaxed of the five short vowels, and usually the last one taught.
Word listWorksheetsCVC words are three-sound words with a short vowel in the middle, like cat, pen and sun, and they are the first words a child can sound out alone. Here they are by vowel and by word family, with free worksheets and no signup.
Word listWorksheetsShort vowel words are the first words a child can sound out, and the five vowels are what they have to tell apart to do it. Here are the words by vowel, with free worksheets and no signup.
Word listWorksheetsA silent final e reaches back over one consonant and makes the vowel say its own name. Four vowels do it all the time (a_e, i_e, o_e and u_e), and e_e is real but rare.
Word listWorksheetsTwo letters, two sounds. The voiced th (/ð/) buzzes in this and mother, and the unvoiced th (/θ/) is only air in thin and bath. Each sound has its own word list and three worksheets, and a mixed review sorts the two.
Word listWorksheetsSh is a digraph, two letters that spell one sound. Ship has four letters and three sounds. Below are the words that start with sh and the words that end with it, each with its own worksheets, and a mixed review that sorts them by where the sh sits.
Word listWorksheetsCh is a digraph, two letters that spell one sound. Chip has four letters and three sounds. Below are the words that start with ch and the words that end with it, each with its own worksheets, plus the words where ch says something else entirely.
Word listWorksheetsWh is a digraph, two letters that spell one sound, and for most American speakers that sound is simply w. Below are the wh words to read and spell, the four where wh says h instead, and free worksheets for both.
Word listWorksheetsPh is a digraph, two letters that spell one sound, and that sound is f. Phone starts the way fish does. Below are the ph words at the start, in the middle and at the end of a word, with free worksheets and the reason English spells them this way.
Word listWorksheetsCk is two letters for one sound, the same sound as k, and it goes straight after a short vowel. Duck, back, sock. Below are the ck words by family, the rule in one line, free worksheets and the games that make it stick.
Word listWorksheetsTch is three letters for one sound, the same sound as ch, and it goes straight after a short vowel. Catch, fetch, itch. Below are the tch words by family, the rule in one line, the words that break it, and free worksheets.
Word listWorksheetsDge is three letters for one sound, the same sound as j, and it goes straight after a short vowel. Badge, fudge, bridge. Below are the dge words by family, the rule in one line, the dge-or-ge choice, and free worksheets.
Word listWorksheetsAn ending blend is two consonants run together at the end of a word, with both sounds still heard: hand, tent, jump, nest, desk, gift, belt, wolf, milk. They are harder to hear than the blends at the start of a word, and they are where most of a child's spelling mistakes live. Below are the words family by family, free worksheets, and why nk and ng are taught differently.
Word listWorksheetsAn L blend is a consonant followed by l, and both letters keep their sound: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl and sl. Blue, clap, flag, glue, plug, sled. Below are the words family by family, the reason children drop the l, and free worksheets for each.
Word listWorksheetsAn R blend is a consonant followed by r, and both letters keep their sound: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr and tr. Bread, crab, drum, frog, grass, press, train. Below are the words family by family, why this family is the hardest of the three, and free worksheets for each.
Word listWorksheetsAn S blend starts with s and a second consonant, and both letters keep their sound: sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st and sw. Star, stop, snake, spoon, swing, smoke, scarf. The s can be stretched out for as long as you like, which is what makes this the easiest family to start with. Below are the words family by family, the three-letter blends that come later, and free worksheets.
Word listWorksheetsA vowel team is two letters that spell one vowel sound, so rain has four letters and three sounds. The lists below are grouped by SOUND rather than by spelling, because the choice between two spellings of the same sound is the part a child actually has to learn.
Word listWorksheetsLong a is the sound in cake, rain and day: the letter a saying its own name. English writes it at least five ways, and choosing between them is the part a child has to learn.
Word listWorksheetsLong e is the sound in feet, leaf and happy: the letter e saying its own name. It has more spellings than any other long vowel, and the two commonest, ee and ea, cannot be told apart by any rule.
Word listWorksheetsLong i is the sound in bike, light and my: the letter i saying its own name. It is the only long vowel spelled with three letters for one sound, and the only one commonly spelled with no i at all.
Word listWorksheetsLong o is the sound in bone, boat and snow: the letter o saying its own name. One of its spellings, ow, also spells a completely different sound, which is the mix-up this page sorts out.
Word listWorksheetsLong u is two sounds, not one. It is the /yoo/ in cube and music and the /oo/ in blue and moon, and both are called long u. Knowing that is what stops a child stalling on blue.
Word listWorksheetsA long vowel says its own name, and English writes each one several ways. These lists group the words by the SOUND you hear, so cake, rain and day sit together even though nothing about them looks alike.
Word listWorksheetsAn r-controlled vowel is a vowel followed by r, where the r changes the vowel's sound so it is neither short nor long. Parents and teachers call it bossy r. There are five spellings (ar, or, er, ir and ur) but only three sounds, because er, ir and ur all say the same thing.
WorksheetsHow-toLooking for something to do with your kid this fall that is not a screen? October makes it easy. Pumpkins, costumes, spooky decorations and long dark walks give kids plenty to see, hear and talk about. Most of what is on this page needs no paper at all.
How-toExplainerWhy it happens instead of sounding out, a two-minute check for which kind of guessing you are seeing, and what to do about each.
How-toExplainerWhat phonemic awareness is, what is normal at each age, and the five-minute spoken games that build it at home.
WorksheetsHow-toExplainerOne box for each sound in a word, chips before letters, and how to use them with a five-year-old at the kitchen table.
How-toExplainerTwo letters, both sounds still audible: st in stop, fl in flag. Which blends to teach first, how to teach them, and where the word lists are.
WorksheetsHow-toExplainerThe five short vowel sounds with a picture word for each, which two children mix up, and how to teach them without saying the letter's name.
How-toHow to sort the list your school sent, how many words your child actually needs, and what five minutes a day should look like.
How-toExplainerWhy words your child knew last week slip away, the seven usual causes, and what to change for each one.
How-toWhy spelling is harder than reading, the five-minute routine that works, and what to do when your child gets a word wrong.
ExplainerThe handful of rules that are worth teaching, roughly when each one lands, and the ones to handle with caution.
How-toSeven games you can play tonight with nothing but a pencil, why they beat worksheets, and how to tell a spelling game from a reading one.