2nd grade phonics, phase 10: advanced vowel spellings augh, ough, eigh, ui, oar and oor

The sounds this phase adds

• augh
• ough
• eigh
• ui
• oar
• oor

By the end of this phase a child has met 79 sounds altogether.

Typically read in 2nd grade, in the order most US classrooms teach these sounds. A grade here is a guide to when, never a measure of a child.

Heart words (sometimes called tricky words)

These can’t be sounded out with the letters taught so far, so the part that doesn’t follow them is learned by heart. Every phonics program has a handful of them and this is ours. Every phase’s heart words on one page.

• island
• answer
• beautiful

The new words this phase opens up

This phase lets a child read 3 everyday words they couldn’t read before. These are the ones worth practicing, because they already have the rest.

enough thought through

Everything they can read by the end of it

Below is every word from the first five hundred of English that a child who has been taught these sounds can work out for themselves. There are 339 of them, shortest first. Nobody wrote this list by hand. We made it by running the words through the same check that decides whether a page of one of our books may use a word at all.

an as at by if in is it of on or up air and any ask bad bag bat bed big bin bit bog box boy bug bun bus but can cap cot cup cut dad dam day den did dig din dog dot eat end eye fan far few fig fin fit fix fog for fox fun gap get got had ham has hat hen him his hit hog hop hot how hug hut its jam jet jog jug kit lad lap led leg let lit log lot mad man map mat may men met mix mop mug nap net new not now nut off oil old our pan pat peg pen pet pig pin pit pop pot pup put rag ram ran rat red rug run sad sat saw say sea see set sit six sun tag tan tap ten tin top try tug two use van wag wax way wet why wig win yet also away back been buzz call came city does down each even face feel find fizz food form four from girl give good grow hand hard head hear help here hiss home idea just keep kind kiss know land last late left life line list live long look made make many mean mess mile mind miss more move much must name near need next only open over page part play rain read same seem show side stop such take talk tell than that them then this time took tree turn very want week well went will with word work year your about after began close earth every field first found great group house large learn leave light might money month never night often order other paper place plant point quick quite right river small sound spell start state still story study these thing think those three under until watch which while white world write young animal around before change differ enough family father follow letter mother number really school second america another because country example several thought through mountain sentence together important

The heart words above are left out of this list, because they aren’t sounded out. If you print this page, the two lists come out separately, so you can practice them separately too.

How a book uses this

The phases either side

• 1st grade phonics: silent e, more vowel teams
• 2nd to 3rd grade phonics: -tion, -sion, -ture
• The whole order