Short i word songs

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Long I
Short E
Long E
Phonic Sounds
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The following diagram shows some examples of cvc, short i words. Scroll down the page for more
examples and songs to help you learn how to pronounce the short letter i and read short i words.

Short Vowel Letter “i” Phonics song
How to pronounce the, “short i” sound?

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Short i sound — ĭ
How to make the “short i” sound?
Learn words that contain the short i vowel.

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The short I Song
Phonics song for children

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The IG Word Family
Practice words in the IG word family.
The Big Pig Song.

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Word Family -ig
Phonics Song for Kids
Learn about the ig word family.
Word families are groups of words that have a common pattern.

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CVC Words with Letter i
Consonant Vowel Consonant
Phonics Song

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Three Letter Blending with Short i

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Practice Short “i” CVC Words
Let’s Read! Three letter words with “i”

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Reading with Short i: CVC Words

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There are two types of word sounds for the letter i: short i and long i.

Here are some examples of each sound:

Short i: in, it, is, sit, lit

Long i: ice, light, time, pie, by

At the kindergarten stage, children are already expected to know words such as “like” and “into.” We can help children learn the sounds through repetition, flashcards, and sounding out the words.

Let’s look at some common short ‘i’ and long ‘i’ vowel sounds words that we can introduce to children.

The short ‘i’ vowel is made with only one mouth position. The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol (IPA) for the ‘i’ English short vowel is /ɪ/.

What are short i vowel word sounds?

Short ‘i’ vowel word sounds are the sounds that the letter ‘i’ makes in words like in, it, is, sit, lit. The letter ‘i’ usually has a short sound when it is followed by a consonant.

What are some common short i vowel words?

Here is a non-exhaustive list of short ‘i’ vowel sounds. Most of the words contain three or four letters which are perfect for a beginner.

• ib: bib, crib, rib, jib
• ic: pick, sick, kick, nick, lick
• id: kid, lid, did, hid, rid, skid, slid
• if: gift, rift, sift
• ig: pig, wig, fig, gig, dig, big, rig, zig, jig
• il: ill, mill, kill
• im: swim, dim, him, slim, trim
• in: fin, bin, gin, pin, win, tin, thin, chin, skin, twin, sing, ring
• ip: skip, hip, dip, nip, rip, sip, zip, lip
• is: kiss, miss, hiss, this
• it: sit, fit, bit, kit, mitt, with, pit, hit, lit, wit
• ix: fix, mix, six
• iv: give, live

Short I Vowel Word List Printable

Feel free to download these words to help your child sound out words.

Download the short ‘i’ vowel sound words here.

Long I Vowel Word Sounds 

The long ‘i’ vowel sound is noticeably longer than the short ‘i’ sound. This is represented as /aɪ/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

What are long i vowel word sounds?

The long ‘i’ vowel sound is a vowel sound that is pronounced like the letter itself. The long ‘i’ vowel sound can be found in words like ice, light, time, pie, by.

What are some common long i vowel words?

• ie: die, tie, pie, lie, cried, fried, dried, tried
• ice: ice, nice, slice, twice, rice, lice, price, mice
• ide: ride, side, tide, wide, bide, glide, idea
• ife: wife, life, knife
• ike: bike, like, spike,
• ile: mile, file, smile, pile
• ime: time, dime, lime, line, prime
• ine: shine, fine, pine, vine, line
• ipe: wipe, pipe
• ire: wire, tire
• ise: rise, wise
• ite: kite, bite, site,
• ize: size, prize
• igh: high, sigh, bright, light, fight, sight, tonight, knight
• y: my, cry bye, buy, dye, shy, spy, why, sly, July, dry, fry, rely, sky, reply

Long i Vowel Word List Printable

Feel free to download these words to use as flashcards or to help your child sound out words.

Download the long ‘i’ vowel sound words here.

How to Teach the Short and Long I Vowel Sounds

Here are some tips and tricks to help your child learn the long and short ‘i’ vowel sound:

• Focus on one vowel at a time
• Say each word with your child and stress the vowel sound
• Create flashcards and play games like a scavenger hunt and bingo.
• Trace the words or get them to write them on their own

You can even think of other words to include outside of the list or make new words. You may be able to think of longer words.

Working on these words can help a child with their rhyming skills. They can think of other rhyming words with the ‘i’ vowel sound. This would also be a good time to discuss words that are real and not real.

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In Conclusion

Learning the short and long ‘i’ vowel sounds is an important skill for young learners. By learning how to identify these sounds, they will be better equipped to read and spell words. With some practice, your child will be a pro in no time!

Useful Links

• Letters of the Alphabet
• Kindergarden or Kindgarten: The Difference
• Most Common Nouns List

Introducing the Short “i” Sound

The short “i” sound, which is the vowel sound in “hit” and “big,” is an important sound for new readers to learn. Start with words where the short “i” comes first, like “igloo” or “iguana,” so that your child can hear the “i” sound clearly.

The short i sound says “ih,” as opposed to the long i sound, that says “i” (like in “pie,” or “ice”).

Once you and your child have practiced with words that begin with short “i”, you can move up to words that have short “i” in the middle. There are lots more of these! A few examples are “fig,” “pig,” “mitt,” “bit,” “fit,” “bin,” “pin,” and “win.” This is a great time to play with rhyming words, songs, and books that use the short “i” sound.

The short “i” sound can be tricky though! In some regional accents, especially, the short “i” sound sounds very similar to the short “e” sound. Take care when teaching to enunciate clearly (I had to practice a lot as a 2^nd grade teacher with a Southern accent!).

As always, make phonics time fun! Choose a time when you and your child are both relaxed. Approach these games like play more than work, and your child will learn without even realizing it!

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Play “Spin a Word”

Spin a Word is a game pairing “word families” with starting letters. Word families are the last two letters of a consonant-vowel-consonant word, so the “ig” in “pig,” or the “in” in “bin.” First, make a “spinner.” You can print this one out and attach a paperclip through the center so it can “spin.”

Next, make a sheet of “fill-in-the-blank” words. That is, you want to have just the first letters with room to write in the word family endings. Here is an example:

To play, help your child to spin the spinner and write the word family ending in the blank. Read the word together. Is it a real word or not? This can result in a lot of silly words, but either way, they will get practice hearing and reading the short “i” sound. You can print more than one copy of the fill-in-the-blank words, if you’d like, and see what words you come up with the second time around.

I Spy

This is a great activity for if the weather outside isn’t great or if you simply haven’t had much time to prepare something special. Find a book with lots of pictures that your child enjoys. Books by Richard Scarry work especially well for this game! Now, instead of reading the words to the story, look through the pictures together and ask your child what he sees. You can offer a few things you see, too (“I see a lion driving a car!). Then, listen to the words you are coming up with together and “hunt” for the short “i” sound. It might go like this,

You: “Let’s see, ‘car’ do you hear ‘ih’ in that word?”

Kid: “Caarrr… No?”

You: “That’s right, no ‘ih’ in ‘car.’ What else do you see?”

Kid: “I see a pig!”

You: “Do you hear an ‘ih’ in ‘pig’?”

Kid: “Piiiggg… yes!”

You: “That’s right!”

You may need to help point out some words with short “i” sounds (maybe there is a dolphin with a fin?). Keep going as long as it is fun, but don’t force it. These games have lots of “replay” value, so don’t be afraid to try these more than once. Enjoy!

Kids will have loads of fun with Red Cat Reading books!

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Spin a Word game inspired by “Miss Giraffe”.