Phonogram Words

Watercolor illustration of a young child sorting colorful phonogram word cards into labeled boxes at a Montessori classroom table

Phonograms are the spelling patterns that go beyond simple phonetic (CVC) words. Once your child has mastered the Pink, Blue, and Green reading cards, these word lists help them tackle the rich variety of English spelling patterns.

This comprehensive reference contains 65 phonogram categories with hundreds of words organized by spelling pattern. Use these lists with the Moveable Alphabet, reading cards, or spelling exercises.

Materials

Moveable Alphabet
Word cards or labels for each phonogram group
Small boxes or drawers for sorting exercises

Recommended:

Montessori Phonetic Reading Cards Level 3, Group 2 — 10 packets with photos and cards for phonogram patterns.
Montessori Phonetic Reading Cards Level 3, Group 1 — 11 packets (198 cards) covering key phonogram groups with 3-part format.

Getting Started

A 4 or 5 year old child can handle double consonants (-ck, -ss, -ff) and -ing words. You can introduce these words if they are part of your child's environment. Start with the double consonant patterns, then progress through the long vowel phonograms.

Double Consonant Patterns

-ing words

king, ring, sing, wing, fling, bring, spring, sling, swing

-ll words

hall, wall, mall, bell, dell, fell, well, tell, sell, drill, ill, will, bill, sill, till, fill, hill, mill, still, grill, pill, doll, dull, lull, gull, smell, swell, spell, dwell

Challenge: skull

-ff words

off, huff, ruff, puff, muff, gruff, fluff, stuff, muffin, scruff, cliff, stiff

-ck words

back, pack, rack, sack, tack, black, crack, track, stack, deck, neck, peck, wreck, brick, click, flick, kick, pick, quick, sick, stick, thick, trick, wick, block, clock, dock, flock, knock, lock, mock, rock, sock, stock, duck, luck, muck, stuck, truck, tuck

Extra Challenge Words

button, cotton, turret, happen, mutton, fossil, rotten, squirrel, ribbon, fizz, carrot, bottom, tennis, kennel, kitten, traffic, blossom, summer, address, buzz, bonnet, attic, mitten, rabbit, banana

Long A Phonograms

-a_e (silent e, long a)

gate, late, cake, rake, drake, spade, snake, ape, plate, slate, lake, cape, name, made, wake, lame, bake, lane, tame, tape, take, grate, flame, fate, maze, slave, cable, blaze, blame, pale, make, raven, label, brave, stake, wade, ate, mane, scrape, grave, trade, came, save, safe, rave, scale, same, cane, fade, pave, stale, grape, Jane, James

Challenge: lemonade

-ai (long a)

sail, mail, nail, rail, pail, tail, maid, rain, snail, train, paint, laid, raid, aim, brain, trail, strain, sprain, waist, fail, wail, saint, wait, grain, faint, gain, drain, bail, bait, pain, gait, stain, afraid, explain, claim, frail

Challenge: railing, contain, obtain, quaint, maiden, maintain, Spain

-ay (long a)

jay, ray, bay, hay, may, day, say, lay, pay, way, away, tray, play, stay, spray, bray, fray, pray, gray, sway, clay

Challenge: crayon, payment, display, delay, relay, array, essay, midday, decay, dismay, astray, playing, repay, Sunday

Long E Phonograms

-ea (long e)

pea, eat, seal, leaf, bean, seat, bead, beam, team, stream, neat, cream, lean, reap, speak, read, dream, steam, clean, meal, beast, yeast, seam, mean, veal, leak, leap, feat, peat, plea, least, treat, beat, east, feast, bleat, creak, heal

Challenge: teapot, peacock, season, scream, squeak, squeal, sea, weak

-ee (long e)

eel, bee, fee, tee, see, wee, tree, reel, sweet, sweep, street, feet, green, seeds, heel, reed, peel, seem, been, deep, peep, seed, seen, creep, steep, weed, sleep, preen, keep, greed, deed, feel, bleed, meet, tweed, need, keel, keen, heed, deem, sleet, weep

Challenge: toffee, queen, week, creed, coffee, sixteen, seventeen, nineteen, fifteen

-ie (long e)

field, yield, fiend, priest, brief, grief

-ey (long e)

key, abbey, alley, valley, jockey, hockey, donkey

-y (long e)

teddy, putty, very, ugly, holly, dolly, entry, curry, body, candy, inky, merry, sadly, bunny, sorry, witty, rusty, crusty, dirty, bumpy, softly, penny, happy, fifty, sunny, berry, sandy, sixty, seventy, pity, jolly, sentry, pansy, empty

Long I Phonograms

-i_e (silent e, long i)

bite, dine, fine, hide, hike, kite, like, lime, line, mine, nice, nine, pile, pine, pipe, ride, ripe, side, time, vine, wide, wife, wine, wipe, write, bike, dice, dive, drive, fire, five, hive, life, mice, mile, prize, quite, rice, rise, shine, size, slide, smile, spine, strike, stripe, tire, tribe, white, while

-igh (long i)

high, sigh, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, knight, light, slight, thigh, plight, blight, delight, midnight

-y (long i)

by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, ply, pry, shy, sky, sly, spy, sty, try, why, reply, supply, deny, apply, July

Long O Phonograms

-o_e (silent e, long o)

bone, cone, dome, dose, drove, froze, hole, home, hope, hose, joke, mole, nose, note, phone, pole, poke, rode, role, rope, rose, spoke, stone, stole, stove, those, throne, tone, vote, woke, wove, zone

-oa (long o)

boat, coat, foam, goat, groan, load, loan, moan, oak, oat, road, roast, soak, soap, toad, toast

-ow (long o)

blow, bow, crow, flow, glow, grow, know, low, mow, own, row, show, slow, snow, sow, throw, tow, window, follow, pillow, yellow, elbow, hollow, shadow, sparrow, borrow

-o (long o, as in old)

old, fold, roll, so, cold, hold, stroll, oval, go, bold, sold, post, no, sold, ago, host, gold, scold, told, bolt, colt, folk, both

Long U Phonograms

-u_e (long u)

cube, cute, fume, fuse, huge, mule, mute, tube, tune, use, prune, flute, brute, crude, duke, dune, June, Luke, plume, rule

-ew

blew, brew, chew, crew, dew, drew, few, flew, grew, knew, new, screw, stew, threw

-ue

blue, clue, glue, sue, true, due, hue, rescue, statue, value

Consonant Digraphs

-sh

ship, shop, shed, shell, shin, shirt, shoe, shook, shot, shout, shut, dish, fish, push, rush, wish, brush, crash, crush, flash, fresh, trash, splash

-ch

chain, chair, chalk, change, chase, cheap, check, cheese, chest, child, chin, chip, chop, chunk, church, each, inch, lunch, much, peach, rich, such, teach, touch, watch

-th

that, the, them, then, there, these, they, thin, thing, think, third, this, those, three, through, thumb, bath, both, cloth, math, month, path, teeth, with, worth

-qu

queen, quack, quake, quarter, question, quick, quiet, quilt, quit, quite, quiz, squash, square, squeak, squeeze, squint, squirrel

R-Controlled Vowels

-er

her, fern, germ, herd, jerk, nerve, perch, serve, stern, term, verb, were

-ir

bird, birth, dirt, firm, first, girl, sir, skirt, stir, swirl, third, twirl, whirl

-ur

burn, burst, church, curl, curve, fur, hurt, nurse, purse, surf, turn, blurt, churn

-or

corn, cord, for, fork, form, fort, horn, lord, more, nor, north, or, porch, port, short, sort, sport, storm, store, torn, worn

-ar

bar, car, far, jar, star, arm, barn, cart, card, dark, farm, guard, hard, large, march, mark, park, part, scarf, sharp, smart, start, yard, ark, tar, mar, tart, harp, lark, dart, scar, bark, harm, harvest, carpet, hark, spark, darkness, garden, parting, arctic, darn, art, artist, barbed, regard, marvel, garment, remark, garland, darling, custard, beggar, target, vicar, market

Diphthongs

-ow (as in cow)

bow, brown, clown, cow, crowd, crown, down, drown, flower, frown, gown, growl, how, now, owl, plow, power, prowl, town, tower, vowel, wow

-ou

about, aloud, bound, cloud, couch, count, found, ground, hound, house, loud, mound, mount, mouse, mouth, our, out, pouch, pound, proud, round, scout, shout, sound, south, sprout, stout, trout

-oi

boil, broil, coil, coin, foil, join, joint, moist, noise, oil, point, poison, soil, spoil, toil, voice

-oy

boy, joy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, enjoy, royal, voyage

Other Patterns

-al / -all

also, always, salt, talk, walk, ball, call, fall, hall, mall, small, stall, tall, wall

-oo (long)

boo, cool, drool, food, fool, groom, hoop, loop, moon, mood, noon, pool, proof, roof, room, root, school, scoop, smooth, soon, spoon, stool, tool, tooth, troop, zoo

-oo (short)

book, brook, cook, foot, good, hood, hook, look, nook, shook, stood, took, wood, wool

-au / -aw

cause, fault, haul, launch, pause, sauce, August, auto, claw, crawl, dawn, draw, fawn, jaw, law, lawn, paw, raw, saw, shawl, straw, thaw, yawn

Soft C

ace, cell, cent, center, certain, circle, city, cycle, face, grace, ice, lace, mice, nice, pace, peace, place, price, race, rice, since, slice, space, spice, trace, twice, voice

Soft G

age, cage, change, charge, edge, fudge, gem, gentle, giant, ginger, giraffe, gorge, huge, judge, large, ledge, magic, merge, orange, page, plunge, rage, ridge, sage, stage, strange, urge, village, wage

-tion

action, addition, attention, collection, condition, connection, direction, education, election, fraction, function, instruction, invention, mention, nation, notion, option, portion, position, question, section, station, suggestion, vacation, tradition

-sion

collision, conclusion, decision, division, erosion, explosion, extension, invasion, mission, occasion, passion, permission, television, tension, version, vision

-ea (short e, as in bread)

lead, head, deaf, read, deaf, bread, heaven, tread, spread, dread, sweat, dealt, meant, instead, dreadful, bedstead, peasant, realm, pleasant

-le

apple, little, puzzle, bottle, candle, cattle, kettle, bubble, bundle, rattle, saddle, handle, mangle, nettle, paddle, sizzle, middle, puddle, muddle, cuddle, brittle, tremble, bramble, grumble, humble, crumble, nestle, riddle, hustle, nozzle, spindle, jostle, muzzle, gristle, pebble, jungle, simple, scribble, rumble, bristle, mumble, single, possible, responsible, rectangle

-o (short u sound, as in love)

love, sponge, above, come, glove, son, won, ton, London, Monday, dove, another, monk, front, other, month, onion, monkey, wonder, mother

-a (broad a, as in ask)

ask, raft, mast, fast, cask, task, glass, staff, last, plant, past, brass, craft, class, mask, cast, grass, half, slant, pass, fasten, basket, vast, command, delta, demand, extra, umbrella, Africa, Canada

-ture

picture, lecture, fracture, adventure, culture, fixture, disfigure, posture, scripture, structure, texture, signature

-are

hare, bare, mare, ware, fare, rare, care, dare, compare, Clare, prepare, stare, flare, spare, blare, farewell, welfare, square

-air

air, pair, lair, fair, hair, despair, stair, affair, unfair

Silent Letters

Silent b: lamb, limb, bomb, numb, dumb, crumb, debt, jamb, debt, plumbing

Silent d: ledge, judge, hedge, wedge, grudge, badge, trudge, bridge, midge, porridge

Silent g: sign, gnu, gnome, gnaw, gnarl, gnash, honest, feign, reign, sigh, deign

Silent h: which, while, when, what, whip, whiz, whim, whisk, whist, whiff, wheel, whack, whitsun, white, whale, whine, wheat, whisper, wheeze, honor or honour, hour, heir, whit, whistle

Silent k: knee, knew, knob, knot, knit, knelt, knoll, knack, knock, knife, knowledge, kneel, know, knead, knave, knapsack, knotty, knuckle, knight

Silent t: often, fasten, listen, castle, gristle, thistle, jostle, wrestle, rustle, bustle

Silent w: wren, wrap, wreck, wrist, wrong, writ, wrung, wrath, wreak, wreath, wrench, write, wretch, wrote, sword, answer, wrapper

Free Printable Reading Cards

These free printable reading cards complement the phonogram word lists above. Use them alongside the Moveable Alphabet for hands-on spelling and reading practice:

How to Use These Lists

Box exercises: Write words on cards and sort into boxes by phonogram pattern
Moveable Alphabet: Spell out words from each group
Matching: Match word cards to objects or pictures
Reading practice: Read through a group and identify the common pattern
Dictation: Say words from a group and have your child write them

What This Develops

Spelling mastery — understanding the patterns behind English spelling
Reading fluency — recognizing phonograms speeds up word recognition
Vocabulary — each group introduces related words
Pattern recognition — a key cognitive skill for all learning

See also: Montessori Reading — for the complete reading method and free Pink, Blue, and Green reading card printouts.