Phonics
Short E CVC Words
Printable phonics practice for short e, the short e in bed, between a and i. 32 words and 4 word families, as sound boxes, missing letters, family lists or handwriting practice.
Four steps
How to practise short e
- 1
Say the vowel alone
Hold the short e in bed for a second before using it in a word.
- 2
Segment with sound boxes
One box per sound, said slowly.
- 3
Fill a missing letter
The child supplies the sound that was removed.
- 4
Read a family
Learning one chunk unlocks several words at once.
Short e
It is the short e in bed, between a and i. Taught last of the five, because short e sits acoustically between short a and short i and is the one children most often confuse with both. Leaving it until the others are secure avoids most of that trouble.
The word families
A word family shares an ending, so learning the chunk once unlocks every word in the group. These are the short e families:
- -ed: bed, red, fed, led, wed, shed
- -en: pen, hen, ten, den, men
- -et: net, wet, get, jet, let, met
- -eg: leg, beg, peg, keg
All the short e words on these sheets
bedredfedledwedshedsledtedpenhentendenmenwhenthenwrennetwetgetjetletmetpetsetlegbegpegkegbellwelltellfell
Where this sits
Before this comes short u. This is the last of the five, after which words with blends and digraphs are the natural next step.
Related printables
See every short vowel, or pair this with sight words, which cover the common words phonics cannot decode.
Answers