CVC Words List with Pictures

What are CVC words?

CVC stands for consonant - vowel - consonant: three-letter words like cat, pig and sun. The vowel in the middle makes its short sound (a as in apple, e as in egg, i as in itch, o as in octopus, u as in up). Because every letter makes just one sound, children can read a CVC word by saying each sound and blending them together: c - a - t, cat. That makes CVC words the first real words most children learn to decode, usually in pre-K or kindergarten, right after they know most letter sounds.

On this page the vowel is shown in red on the printables, so children notice the one letter that changes the most.

Which order to teach the vowels

Most phonics programs start with short a, because words like cat, hat and map are easy to picture and the sound is clear. A common order after that is short i, short o, short u, and finally short e. Short e and short i sound alike to young ears (pen and pin), so teaching them apart, with lots of practice in between, avoids confusion.

Spend a week or two on each vowel. Inside each vowel, teach one word family at a time: once a child can read cat, the rest of the -at family (hat, mat, rat, bat) only needs a new first sound. That quick success is very motivating.

How to teach blending

Blending is the step where many children get stuck: they can say /c/ /a/ /t/ but not hear "cat". Two things help. First, stretch the sounds instead of chopping them: "mmmaaat" is easier to blend than "m - a - t", which is why words starting with sounds you can hold (m, s, f, n) are great first words. Second, try blending the first two sounds together, then adding the last: "ca" ... "t" ... cat.

A fun trick: slide a toy car under the word from left to right while your child says each sound, then "drive fast" for the whole word. Keep sessions short, about five minutes, and stop while it is still fun.

Games to play with the picture cards

• Memory: print two copies of a page, turn the cards face down and find pairs.
• Family sort: sort a pile of cards into word families (-at, -ig, -op).
• Vowel sort: make five piles, one for each vowel sound.
• Go fish: "Do you have a word that rhymes with cat?"
• Word ladder: change one letter at a time: cat - hat - hot - hop - top.
• Read and run: spread cards around the room; call a word and your child runs to it.

Cards for words that are hard to draw (like fun, get or yes) show just the word, which makes them good practice for reading without picture clues.

Using the 5 starter worksheets

The worksheets go from easier to harder. Write the missing vowel trains listening for the middle sound. Match the picture to the word is the first real reading. Read and circle uses pictures that look and sound alike (like cat, cap and can), so children must read every letter instead of guessing from the first one. Sort by vowel sound is a cut-and-paste page for the five short vowels, and Read the sentence puts CVC words into short decodable sentences such as "The bug is on a rug." Every worksheet has an answer key at the back of the PDF.

What comes after CVC words?

Once your child reads CVC words smoothly, the next steps are: consonant blends (stop, frog, hand), digraphs (ship, chat, thin), and then CVCe words, where a silent e changes the vowel sound (cap becomes cape, pin becomes pine). Many CVC words on this list have a CVCe partner, which makes a fun bridge: write "hat", add an e, and read "hate".

Print at 100% ("actual size") on US Letter, or choose the A4 versions on A4 paper. Black and white is fine for everything.

Practising numbers too? See our number tracing worksheets 0-20.

Questions