OI and OY Words for Kids: Word Lists + Free Worksheets

OI and OY words share one sound, the sound in coin and boy. The sound is spelled two ways.

oi goes at the start or in the middle of a word. oy goes at the end.

Our free oi and oy words worksheets start with an oi-or-oy picture sort, then fill-in, matching and word search pages, the full word list and an answer key. You’ll find picture flash cards and a Coin or Boy? spinner game in the list at the top of this post. No signup, no email.

Below are oi and oy word lists for kids, sorted by what your child can sound out, plus the words that look like oi words but aren’t. Most children learn oi and oy in 1st grade. Many review them in 2nd.

Jump to: the worksheets · one sound · oi words · oy words · the rule · look-alikes · at home · when · FAQ

Free oi and oy words worksheets (PDF)

A picture sort opens the pack, so your child hears where the sound sits before spelling a single word. Activities come first. You’ll find the word list and the answer key at the back.

• Page 1: oi or oy? Cut out the pictures and paste them.
• Page 2: fill in oi or oy.
• Page 3: read the sentence and match the picture.
• Page 4: find the words, then sort them.
• Page 5: the oi and oy word list and the rule.
• Page 6: the answer key.

The answer key is on page 6.

You’ll find our OI and OY words flash cards as a separate free PDF. There are 12 picture cards, 6 oi words and 6 oy words. Print two sets for a memory game.

Coin or Boy? is a free spinner game for two. Spin on your turn, pick a square your letters finish, and write them in. Get four in a row, or have the most squares when the board is full.

Three one-page worksheets, coins in the soil, a toy boat and jump for joy, are in the list at the top of this post.

Our Vowel Teams Sound Mat has a coin card for oi and a boy card for oy.

Printing tips:

• Black and white is fine.
• Print the flash cards and the game board on cardstock.

One sound, two spellings

Say coin, then boy. It’s the same sound.

Say boy slowly. Your lips start round, like the o in for. Then they slide into a small smile, like the i in sit. Your mouth moves as you say it, and the sound glides. Some pages say it slides from o to e. It ends closer to the i in sit.

When a sound glides, it’s called a diphthong. oi and oy are a vowel team too. Two letters spell one vowel sound. Our vowel teams list has the others. Compare that with oo words, where one spelling makes two sounds.

Reading oi and oy is the easy part. Both spellings say the same sound. The hard part is knowing which one to write.

oi words (as in coin)

Most oi words have the oi in the middle, like c-oi-n.

Stage 1: short words to sound out

One sound comes before the oi and one after. Or the oi comes first, like oi-l.

oil, boil, coil, foil, soil, coin, join

Stage 2: with blends, ch, nk or a quiet e

Now there are more letters around the oi, like p-oi-nt and ch-oi-ce.

point, spoil, noise, voice, choice, oink

In voice and choice, the ce says /s/. In noise, the s says /z/.

Stage 3: longer words

These words run longer. Read one chunk at a time, like pin·point and tin·foil.

toilet, avoid, boiling, pinpoint, tinfoil, topsoil, rejoice, pointy, oily, noisy, asteroid

oy words (as in boy)

There are fewer oy words. Most end in oy, like b-oy.

Stage 1: short words

Just one sound comes before the oy.

boy, toy, joy, soy

Add an s and the oy stays, as in boys and toys.

Stage 2: longer words

The oy still sits at the end of the word, or at the end of a part, like en·joy and roy·al.

enjoy, annoy, destroy, cowboy, ahoy, corduroy, royal, loyal, joyful, overjoyed, soybean, joystick

You’ll read royal and loyal as roy·al. The -al is said softly. In cowboy, the ow says the ow in cow. Cowboy is two small words joined. More are in our compound words list.

Oyster is the one oy word kids meet that starts with oy.

oi or oy? The rule for which spelling

Listen for where the sound is. That tells you which team to write.

• At the start or in the middle, write oi. Think oil, coin and point.
• At the end, write oy. Think boy, toy and enjoy.
• Add an ending, and oy stays. Think toys, enjoyed, joyful and cowboys. The y never changes to i.
• oy can end the first part of a word. Think roy·al and loy·al.
• The odd one out is oyster.

Some pages say royal and loyal break the rule. They follow it. The oy ends the first part, roy·al.

English words almost never end in oi. The few that do, like koi, are borrowed from other languages.

Watch for boi and coyn. Later, watch for toies or enjoied once your child learns that y can change to i. With oy, the y stays.

The same where-is-it rule mostly picks ai or ay. It works less well for au and aw. See the position rule.

Words that look like oi or oy words but aren’t

Some words put an o next to an i or a y and still don’t say the sound in coin.

• going, doing, heroic: the o and the i are in different parts, go·ing.
• choir: it rhymes with fire.
• tortoise, porpoise: most Americans say TOR-tus and POR-pus.
• coyote: most Americans say kai-OH-tee, with no oy sound.
• yo-yo: each y starts a new part. It’s a long o word.

Leave these off oi and oy sorts.

ou and ow glide too. They finish on a different sound, as in cloud and cow. Their page comes next.

How to practice oi and oy words at home

Five minutes a day is plenty.

1. Same or different? Say coin and boy. It’s the same sound. Now say coin and cloud. They’re different. No reading needed.
2. Where’s the sound? Say a word like soil or enjoy. Your child says “middle” or “end”, then picks oi or oy.
3. Sort it. Use the picture cards from page 1 or the flash cards.
4. Play Coin or Boy? with the spinner game.
5. Add an ending. Build boy with letter tiles, then add an s for boys. Build coin, then coins. The oi and oy stay put.

When do kids learn oi and oy words?

Most children learn oi and oy in 1st grade. Many review them in 2nd.

In UFLI Foundations, oi and oy come in lesson 95, right before ou and ow in lesson 96 (see our worksheets in UFLI order).

Our 1st grade spelling list has coin, boy and toy in Week 35. The 2nd grade list reviews them in Week 8 with point and enjoy.

Some programs teach oi and oy before oo, and others teach them after.

FAQ

Can you give me a list of oi and oy words?

oil, boil, coil, foil, soil, coin, join, point, spoil, noise, voice, choice, toilet, avoid, oink, boy, toy, joy, enjoy, annoy. The last five are spelled oy. They all make the same sound.

How do you know when to use oi or oy?

Listen for where the sound is. At the start or in the middle, write oi, as in oil and coin. At the end, write oy, as in boy and enjoy. Add an ending and oy stays, as in toys and enjoyed.

What are some words that end with oy?

boy, toy, joy, soy, enjoy, annoy, destroy, cowboy, ahoy.

Are there any words that start with oy?

Very few words do. Oyster is the one kids meet.

What words end with “oi”?

Almost none. Koi is a borrowed word. At the end of a word, the sound is spelled oy.

How do you pronounce “oi”?

Start with round lips, like the o in for. Then slide into a small smile. That’s the sound in coin and boy.

What are oi and oy words called?

oi and oy are vowel teams. Two letters make one vowel sound. That sound is a diphthong, because your mouth glides while you say it.

What are some words that begin with “oi”?

oil, oily, oink and ointment.

The takeaways

• oi and oy make one sound, the sound in coin and boy.
• oi goes at the start or in the middle. oy goes at the end.
• Add an ending, and oy stays, as in toys and enjoyed.
• going, doing, choir and coyote don’t count. Oyster is the odd one out.
• Print the free oi and oy words worksheets, 6 pages with an answer key.

You’ll practice oi and oy in our reading games, with coin, oil, boy and toy. Next come ou and ow, as in cloud and cow.

Created to align with UFLI Foundations’ scope and sequence; lesson numbers are cited for alignment only. This post and its PDF are our own original work, not created by nor endorsed by UFLI or the University of Florida.

Sources

• UFLI Foundations. Toolbox, lessons 95-98, and the lesson 95 Home Practice sheet.
• Reading Universe. Scope and Sequence for Teaching Vowel Teams, Explicitly Teach “oi” and “oy” and When to Teach Vowel Teams and Diphthongs.
• Wikipedia. Diphthong and Lexical set (CHOICE).
• Wiktionary. coyote, tortoise, porpoise, choir, oyster, royal and koi.
• Carnegie Mellon University. The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (word checks).