OO Words for Kids: Long and Short oo Word Lists + Free PDF

OO words have two o’s that team up to make one vowel sound. Most say the long oo in moon, spoon and zoo. Some say the short oo in book, look and foot.

At the end of a word, oo says moon. Before k, it says book.

Our free oo words worksheets start with a moon-or-book picture sort, then fill-in, coloring and matching pages, the full word list and an answer key. Picture flash cards and a spoon-to-the-moon maze are in the box at the top of this post. No signup, no email.

Below are long and short oo word lists for kids, sorted by what your child can sound out, and the simple rule that tells the two sounds apart most of the time. Most children learn oo words in 1st grade, after ai, ee and oa (as in rain, tree and boat).

Jump to: the worksheets · two sounds · long oo words · short oo words · the rule · look-alikes · at home · when · FAQ

Free oo words worksheets (PDF)

The pack opens on a picture sort, so your child hears moon or book before reading a single word. Activities come first. The word list and the answer key sit at the back.

• Page 1: moon or book? Cut out the pictures and paste them.
• Page 2: fill in the oo, then circle moon or book.
• Page 3: color by sound.
• Page 4: read the sentence and match the picture.
• Page 5: the oo word list and the rule.
• Page 6: the answer key.

Page 6 is the answer key.

You’ll find our OO words flash cards as a separate free PDF. There are 16 picture cards, 8 moon words and 8 book words. Print two sets for a memory game.

The Spoon to the Moon maze is free as well. Help the spoon reach the moon by following the words with the moon sound.

Our one-page oo worksheets, the moon at noon, food on a spoon, a good book and a book nook, are in the box at the top of this post.

For a silly-sentence cut-out game, try our vowel patterns Sentence Builder. Our decodable stories for lessons 89-94 have oo stories to read, like The Moon.

Printing tips:

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

The two sounds of oo

Say moon, then book, and watch what your mouth does.

In moon your lips round and push forward, and the sound is long. In book your lips relax, and the sound is short. We call them long oo and short oo. Short oo is not the “uh” in cup.

The two letters in oo work as a team. Two letters spell one vowel sound. Our vowel teams list has the others. Some worksheets call oo a diphthong. Most reading programs save that word for oi, oy, ou and ow.

Long oo words (oo as in moon)

Start here. Most oo words have the moon sound.

Stage 1: short words to sound out

One sound comes before the oo and one after, like m-oo-n. Or the oo comes at the end, like z-oo.

moon, soon, noon, zoo, too, moo, boo, food, mood, cool, pool, tool, boot, hoot, loop, zoom, boom, goose, moose

In goose and moose, the s says /s/ and the e is quiet.

Stage 2: with blends and sh, ch, th

Now two consonant letters sit together before or after the oo, like sp-oo-n and t-oo-th.

spoon, scoop, stool, school, bloom, drool, swoop, snoop, tooth, booth, smooth, scoot, shoo, choose, snooze

In school, the ch says /k/.

Stage 3: longer words

These have two or three parts. Read one chunk at a time, like bal·loon and kan·ga·roo.

igloo, bamboo, shampoo, balloon, cartoon, raccoon, cocoon, noodle, poodle, rooster, scooter, toothbrush, toolbox, kangaroo

Short oo words (oo as in book)

There are fewer of these, and children still see them every day, like look, good and took.

Stage 1 and 2: short words

Most end in k or d, like b-oo-k and g-oo-d.

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

Stage 3: longer words

Many are two small words joined, like foot·ball and note·book.

cookbook, notebook, football, footprint, bookcase, bookshelf, wooden, cookie, goodbye, barefoot, firewood, woodpecker

In cookie, the ie says long e. More two-in-one words are in our compound words list.

Long or short oo? The rule that helps

Spelling can’t always tell you which sound oo makes. Where the oo sits is a strong clue.

• At the end of a word, oo says moon. Think zoo, too, igloo and kangaroo.
• Before k, oo says book. Think book, look, cook and took. Spook is the odd one out.
• Before d, it can go either way. Food has the moon sound. Good, wood and hood have the book sound. Try both.
• Anywhere else, try moon first. If the word doesn’t sound right, try book. Then check that it is a word you know.

The -ood, -oot and -ool families run both ways. You’ll find food and good, boot and foot, pool and wool. Our word families guide has more of these.

You may read that a d or t after oo makes it short. Food and boot show it doesn’t.

Some programs start with the book sound. Others start with moon. Either way, when your child meets a new oo word, the moon sound is the better first guess, except before k. Before d, try both.

Words that look like oo words but aren’t

A few words have oo but say neither sound. A few others change with where you live.

• blood, flood: the oo says the “uh” in cup.
• door, floor: the r changes the sound, as in or.

Teach all four as heart words.

Say it your way: roof, room, root, broom, hoop. In parts of the US, people say these with the book sound. Both are fine. Your child’s school sheets may sort them under moon. That’s fine too. We keep them off the sorts, cards and answer keys in our oo PDFs. Poor rhymes with tour for some people and with door for others.

The moon sound has other spellings too, like blue, new, flute, fruit and soup. See long u words.

The book sound hides in put, push and could. See short u words and heart words.

How to practice oo words at home

Five minutes a day is plenty.

1. Moon or book? Say a word. Your child points to the moon or the book card. No reading needed.
2. Sort it. Read the picture cards from page 1 or the flash cards. Sort them under moon and book.
3. Try both sounds. Write hook, hoot, wool and cool. Read each one with the moon sound, then the book sound. Pick the real word.
4. Play memory with two sets of flash cards.
5. Word hunt. Find oo words in tonight’s book and sort them. Then build book, look, cook and took with letter tiles.

When do kids learn oo words?

Most children learn oo in 1st grade. It usually follows the first two-letter vowel spellings, like ai in rain, ee in tree and oa in boat.

In UFLI Foundations, the book sound comes in lesson 89 and the moon sound in lesson 90 (see our worksheets in UFLI order).

Our 1st grade spelling list has an oo week with moon, spoon, book and look.

Some kindergartners already know look, good, too and soon as sight words.

FAQ

What are 10 words with oo?

moon, spoon, zoo, food, pool, book, look, foot, good, cook. The first five have the moon sound. The last five have the book sound.

How do you know which oo sound to use?

At the end of a word, oo says the moon sound. Before k, it says the book sound. Before d, try both. Anywhere else, try moon first, then book.

Is food long or short oo?

Long, like moon. Good and wood are short. The -ood words are the trickiest.

Is took long or short oo?

Short, like book. So are hook, look and cook.

Can you give me a list of short oo words?

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

What are words that end in oo?

zoo, too, moo, boo, shoo, igloo, bamboo, shampoo, kangaroo. They all have the moon sound.

What vowel makes the oo sound?

The moon sound is often spelled oo. It can also be spelled u_e, ue, ew or ui, as in flute, blue, new and fruit. More in our long u words. The book sound can be spelled with a u, as in put.

Why is oo pronounced differently?

These words all had the moon sound a long time ago. Over time, some everyday words like book, good and foot got shorter.

The takeaways

• oo has two sounds, moon and book.
• At the end of a word, it’s moon. Before k, it’s book.
• Before d, try both. Anywhere else, try moon first.
• blood, flood, door and floor are different. Teach them by heart.
• Print the free oo words worksheets: 6 pages, with an answer key.

Our reading games practice the moon sound with moon, food, boot and spoon. After oo come oi and oy, as in coin and boy.

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 89-94, and the lesson 89 and lesson 90 Home Practice sheets.
• Reading Universe. Scope and Sequence for Teaching Vowel Teams, and the student read sheets for oo as in broom and oo as in book.
• All About Reading. Level 3, Lesson 25, “OO as in Food” (sample).
• Vaux, B. and Golder, S. (2003). Harvard Dialect Survey, question 25 (roof, room, broom, root).
• Wikipedia. Phonological history of English close back vowels.
• Steacy et al. (2019). The Role of Set for Variability in Irregular Word Reading. Scientific Studies of Reading.
• Steacy et al. (2023). Set for Variability as a Critical Predictor of Word Reading. Reading Research Quarterly.
• Carnegie Mellon University. The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (word checks).