All Resources | Closed Syllables | CVC Words | Grade 1 | Kindergarten | Phonics
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Learn all about the short A sound and get a free printable list of over 150 short A words, organized by word family.
![150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (1) 150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (1)](https://i0.wp.com/literacylearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/150-short-a-words-list-free-printable-featured-image.jpg)
Table of Contents
π All About Short A
A vowel sound is made with an open mouth, where the jaw drops and the sound is unobstructed. Every written syllable MUST include a vowel.
Short vowels are the most frequent vowel sounds. The letters (graphemes) A, E, I, O, Y, and Y can represent short sounds (phonemes).
When the letter A represents a short sound, it will spell /Δ/ β the sound you hear at the beginning of βapple.β
Examples of words with short a include:
- app
- ash
- an
- rag
- gap
- cat
- shack
![150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (2) 150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (2)](https://i0.wp.com/literacylearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Short-a-sound-words-graphic.jpg)
The short /Δ/ sound will be heard in words with closed syllables. This means the short /Δ/ sound comes at the beginning or middle of a word.
Did you know? Linguists donβt use the term βshort vowel.β Instead, they use the term βlax.β
This is because the word βshortβ implies that the length of the sound is shortened, when in fact ALL vowel sounds can be held for as long as you have breath.
Short A Words List
There are so many words with Short A sounds. So weβve compiled the ultimate short A word list and organized it alphabetically by word families (rime units).
![150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (3) 150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (3)](https://i0.wp.com/literacylearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Short-A-Word-List.jpg)
-ab Words
ab | cab | dab | jab |
gab | lab | nab | tab |
blab | crab | flab | scab |
-ad Words
ad | add | bad | dad | fad |
had | lad | mad | pad | rad |
sad | tad | Brad | glad | grad |
-ag Words
bag | gag | lag | rag |
sag | tag | wag | zag |
brag | drag | flag | snag |
-al Words
Al | gal | pal | Sal |
-am Words*
am | bam | Cam | ham | jam |
Pam | ram | Sam | yam | clam |
glam | gram | slam | tram | scram |
-an Words*
an | Ann | ban | can | Dan |
fan | Jan | man | pan | ran |
tan | van | clan | Fran | scan |
*Important Note: Words that are part of the -am and -an word family are a bit tricky for kids because the sound gets slightly whiney when followed by the nasal consonants /n/, /m/, or /ng/. These are called glued sounds.
-ap Words
app | cap | gap | lap | map |
nap | rap | sap | tap | yap |
zap | chap | flap | scrap | snap |
-at Words
at | bat | cat | fat |
hat | mat | pat | rat |
vat | brat | chat | that |
-ax Words
ax | fax | lax | Max | tax | wax | flax |
-ack Words
back | hack | jack | lack |
pack | quack | sack | tack |
rack | shack | stack | whack |
-ash Words
ash | bash | cash | dash | hash |
lash | mash | rash | slash | stash |
-ask Words
ask | bask | cask | mask | task | flask |
Other Short A Words
gas | has | pal | yak | bass |
class | grass | mass | pass | sass |
bath | math | path | act | fact |
π©π½βπ« Teaching Kids to Read Short A Words
Once children know just a few letters and sounds, they can begin blending sounds to read words.
Begin by blending two sounds, starting with the short /Δ/ vowel and ending consonant. We call these VC words because they follow a vowel-consonant pattern. Examples include:
- /Δ/+ /b/ = ab
- /Δ/ + /p/ = ap
- /Δ/ + /d/ = ad
Once kids can blend two sounds, they can begin to practice blending CVC words. These are words that follow a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. Examples include:
- /t/ + /Δ/+ /b/ = tab
- /g/ + /Δ/ + /p/ = gap
- /d/ + /Δ/ + /d/ = dad
Learning this sound is important because it is the most frequent sound that the letter A will represent.
IMPORTANT INFO
When the letter A is followed by certain letters, it may not be short. If the letter A if followed by an R, it will create a new phoneme = /ar/ like car. This is called an r-controlled vowel.
If the letter A is followed by a W, it will create a different phoneme that sounds like /aw/ like in paw. We call this a vowel team.
Short A Activities
Kids will need lots of practice to master short vowel sounds. Although short A isnβt the trickiest of the short vowels, kids will still need lots of explicit instruction and targeted practice.
Itβs important to start at the phoneme level, then move to the word level, to the sentence level, and finally to the text level. Here are some activities we suggest!
![150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (4) 150+ Short A Words (Free Printable List) (4)](https://i0.wp.com/literacylearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Short-a-word-activities-graphic.jpg)
Phoneme Level Practice
ππ½ Blending Sounds Sheets: Use this resource to help your students learn how to blend individual sounds (phonemes) together in order to read real and nonsense words.
ππ½ Blending board: Using a blending board is so important because it engages learners in multisensory instruction.
ππ½ Blending Practice: Using words and pictures, kids will practice continuous blending β the research-backed way to teach blending!
Word Level Practice
ππ½ Closed Syllable Interactive Notebook: This no-prep resource includestargeted worksheets specifically designed to practice phonological awareness, decoding, encoding, fluency, writing, and dictation.
ππ½ Word Ladders: Students will usephoneme-grapheme mapping to connect sounds (phonemes) with their written letters (graphemes).
Sentence Level Practice
ππ½ CVC Sentences: These decodable sentences help to build fluency and confidence in young readers with intentional practice. Theyβre perfect for kids kids build up the stamina to read full texts. You can also grab our popular resource and get a HUGE decodable sentence bundle.
Text Level Practice
ππ½ Decodable stories: Grab our free CVC word decodable, which includes both decoding and encoding practice for each short vowel.
ππ½ Decodable Texts: Using these texts helps reinforce the phonics skills youβve taught in an authentic and engaging way. Visit our post for links to hundreds of FREE decodables!
Recommended Resources
Did you know we also have posts dedicated to long vowels too β including word lists and printables? As kids become more skilled readers, they will need to learn to flex between long and short vowel sounds.
Learn more about teaching:
- Long A
- Long E
- Long I
- Long O
- Long U
- Long Y
To learn more about teaching long and short vowels, use our long and short anchor charts and long and short sound sort for students to practice!
π¨ Download & Print
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Short A Words List
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