Phase 4: double letters

The sounds this phase adds, the words that have to be learned by sight, and every everyday word a child who has been taught them can sound out.

The sounds this phase adds

By the end of this phase a child has met 23 sounds altogether.

Words to learn by sight

These cannot be sounded out with the letters taught so far, so they are simply learned. Every phonics programme has a handful of them and this is ours.

was
you
they
all
are
my

What this phase buys

69 everyday words a child could not read before this phase and can read after it. This is the list worth practising, because the rest they already have.

if of bad bag bat bed big bin bit bog bug bun bus but fan fig fin fit fog fun had ham has hat hen him his hit hog hop hot hug hut lad lap led leg let lit log lot off old also back call find from hand help hiss kiss land last left list mess miss talk tell began often plant small spell still until animal little

Everything they can read by the end of it

Every word in the first five hundred of English that a child who has been taught these sounds can work out for themselves. There are 150 of them, shortest first. This list is not written by hand: it is produced 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 do if in is it of on so up and ask bad bag bat bed big bin bit bog bug bun bus but can cap cot cup cut dad dam den did dig din dog dot end fan fig fin fit fog fun gap get got had ham has hat hen him his hit hog hop hot hug hut its kit lad lap led leg let lit log lot mad man map mat men met mop mug nap net not nut off old pan pat peg pen pet pig pin pit pop pot pup put rag ram ran rat red rug run sad sat set sit sun tag tan tap ten tin top tug also back call find from hand help hiss kind kiss land last left list mess mind miss must open stop talk tell began often plant small spell still until animal little second sentence

The sight words above are not in this list, because they are not sounded out. Print this page and the two lists come out separately, which is how they should be practised.

How a book uses this

Nothing before its time

A book written for a child at phase 4 is checked word by word against this list. A draft that reaches for a sound from a later phase is sent back and written again, rather than shipped with a word the child will stall on.

Names are the exception

A story about a dragon called Ferdinand should not spend its whole allowance of tricky words on the name. Character names are exempt from the check and are the only thing that is.