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Let’s Learn The 42 Phonics Sounds
Welcome to your phonics power list. To be a strong reader, you need to know the sounds that letters make. There are 42 main sounds in English. On this page, you can see each sound and practice saying it with 8 fun words. Use these lists to practice your reading, improve your spelling, and build your Word Power every day!
Group 1: First Steps
s - sun, sit, sat, sip, bus, hiss, gas, fits
a - ant, apple, cat, map, tap, bag, ham, pan
t - top, ten, net, bat, rat, hat, tap, set
i - ink, igloo, pin, sit, big, hit, lid, pig
p - pig, pan, map, top, cap, pot, cup, pen
n - net, sun, ten, pan, pin, fan, run, bin
Group 2: Building Words
ck - neck, back, sick, duck, rock, pick, lock, sack
e - egg, bed, hen, net, red, leg, ten, men
h - hat, hen, hop, hot, hug, hum, hit, ham
r - rat, red, run, rip, rag, rob, rug, rot
m - man, map, ham, jam, mom, mud, sum, mug
d - dog, dad, dig, bed, red, mad, lid, sad
Group 3: Growing Stronger
g - gas, got, get, pig, dog, log, bag, rag
o - off, on, pot, dog, log, top, hot, box
u - up, cup, sun, mud, rug, bug, nut, bus
l - lip, leg, lid, bell, fell, doll, log, lap
f - fan, fat, fin, off, huff, puff, fog, fit
b - bad, big, bed, bat, tub, bib, bin, rob
Group 4: Digraphs (Two Letters, One Sound)
ai - rain, tail, wait, paid, nail, sail, main, bait
j - jam, jet, jog, jug, jump, job, just, jig
oa - boat, goat, road, soap, coat, loaf, soak, toad
ie - tie, pie, lie, die, cried, fried, tried, skies
ee - see, bee, feet, keep, tree, meet, sleep, green
or - for, fork, born, horn, cord, sort, pork, storm
Group 5: More Sounds
z - zoo, zip, buzz, fizz, jazz, zap, zigzag, size
w - wet, win, wig, wag, web, went, wish, west
ng - ring, sing, long, song, king, wing, bang, hang
v - van, vet, vest, visit, vat, vent, vivid, velvet
oo (short) - book, foot, cook, wood, good, look, hood, shook
oo (long) - moon, food, pool, roof, zoom, boot, cool, soon
Group 6: Tricky Sounds
y - yes, yet, yell, yum, yap, yuck, yelp, yoga
x - box, six, fox, mix, fix, axe, taxi, exit
ch - chin, chop, chip, rich, much, such, chat, check
sh - ship, shop, fish, wish, dish, cash, dash, shell
th (voiced) - this, that, then, them, with, than, mother, father
th (unvoiced) - thin, moth, path, bath, thin, math, cloth, tenth
Group 7: Finishing the 42
qu - queen, quick, quack, quit, quiz, quilt, quest, liquid
ou - out, loud, mouth, round, found, cloud, shout, pound
oi - oil, coin, join, soil, boil, point, foil, noise
ue - blue, glue, true, due, value, rescue, argue, statue
er - her, term, fern, mixer, baker, under, silver, sister
ar - arm, art, car, far, star, park, dark, farm