CVC Word List: 139 Words by Word Family (Free Printable PDF)

CVC words are the three-letter ones like cat, pin and hop: consonant, vowel, consonant, with the vowel saying its short sound. A CVC word list is just those words collected in one place. Ours has 139 kindergarten words in 31 word families, in the order many phonics programs teach them, on one free printable CVC word list. No signup, no email.

Most lists group the words by vowel. This one groups them by word family — the rime, like -at, -an, -ig, -op — because that’s the easiest way to practice. Keep the ending still and change only the first sound. For lists sorted by vowel, see our short vowel words guide.

The CVC word list, family by family

Vowels follow teaching order: a, i, o, e, u. Short e comes last because it’s the hardest to hear.

Short a (as in apple)

• -at: cat, hat, bat, mat, rat, sat, pat
• -an: can, man, pan, fan, ran, van, tan
• -ap: cap, map, nap, tap, lap, zap, gap
• -ag / -am: bag, rag, tag, wag, ham, jam, ram, yam
• -ad: dad, sad, mad, bad, pad, had

Short i (as in igloo)

• -it: sit, bit, fit, kit, pit
• -in: pin, tin, fin, win, bin
• -ig: pig, big, dig, wig, fig, jig
• -ip: zip, lip, hip, dip, rip, sip, tip
• -id: lid, kid, hid, rid, did

Short o (as in octopus)

• -ot: pot, hot, dot, cot, got, lot, not
• -op: hop, top, mop, pop
• -og: dog, log, fog, hog, jog
• -ob / -od / -om: job, sob, cob, nod, rod, pod, cod, mom

Short e (as in egg)

• -et: net, pet, wet, jet, vet, get, let, met, set, yet
• -en: hen, pen, ten, men, den
• -ed: bed, red, fed, led
• -eg / -eb / -es: leg, peg, beg, web, yes

Short u (as in umbrella)

• -ug: bug, hug, mug, rug, jug, tug, dug, pug
• -un: sun, run, fun, bun
• -ub: cub, tub, rub, sub
• -ut: cut, hut, nut, but
• -um / -us / -ud / -up: gum, hum, yum, bus, mud, bud, cup, pup

The PDF has the same 139 words, plus five pages of picture cards, 20 per vowel, to cut out. Hold fox, box and six for a week or two — x is two sounds, /k/ and /s/. Was, car and saw look like CVC words, but the vowel doesn’t say its short sound, so they stay off the list. Names and anything rude are left out.

The order to teach them

Stay on a step until your child can read it without sounding out every word.

1. s, a, t, p, i, n first. Those six letters from the SATPIN teaching order make sat, pat, tap, nap, pan, tan.
2. Finish short a. As the other consonants arrive, finish -at, -an, -ap, -ad, -ag and -am. Skip words with letters your child hasn’t met yet. Blend to read, then reverse it: say “map” and have your child pick the three tiles that spell it.
3. Short i. Read pat then pit, tap then tip, pan then pin, and ask which sound changed.
4. Short o. Swap pairs: hat/hot, cat/cot, tap/top, dig/dog.
5. Short e, with e/i pairs drilled on purpose: pet/pit, peg/pig, led/lid, pen/pin.
6. Short u. Swap pairs: bag/bug, hat/hut, cap/cup, ran/run.
7. Mix all five. Vowel chains like pat, pet, pit, pot and bag, beg, big, bug, then sentences of CVC words plus the, a and is.

When a step gets stuck, the list is usually not the problem. A child who says /k/ /a/ /t/ and then guesses “dog” has a blending problem. One who can’t tell pet from pit needs vowel-sound practice, not more words.

How to use the list

Spend five minutes a day. Build each word with our free letter tiles: say the three sounds, slide them together, then let your child take a turn. Once a family feels easy, cover the first tile and swap it: cat becomes hat becomes mat. After a dozen words are readable, our sentence building worksheets turn them into silly cut-out sentences. Our reading games build from single sounds to CVC words for ages 3–8, no ads, offline.

“My 5 year old kid enjoys how the animal characters make reading fun. The Learn to Read section covers various topics such as CVC words, sight words, and phonics. I also like daily educational program the app creates.” — McKris88, App Store review (US)

Your plan for this week

• Pick one step, the first your child can’t read yet, and stay on it all week.
• Five minutes a day: build three or four words with tiles, read them, then spell one back.
• Change one letter at a time: the first sound within a family, the middle sound across families.
• Print the free CVC word list: 139 words in this order, with 100 picture cards.

Questions parents ask

Which CVC words should I teach first? Short a words made from s, a, t, p, i, n: sat, pat, tap, nap.

What comes after CVC words? When three-letter words feel easy, bring in words ending in x (fox, box, six) and doubled endings like bell and hill, then digraphs and blends. Full sequence: teaching phonics at home.