Oh, those pesky Silent E words. They’re one of the first big challenges for emergent readers. Whether you call it Silent E, Magic E, Sneaky E, or Super E, an E at the end of the word changes things in so many ways. It can affect pronunciation as well as meaning and even add another syllable to a word. Mastering words with Silent E takes time and practice, so use our free printables with your students as you try some of the activities below.
Silent E Word List
These free Silent E Words printables include common three-letter words, four-letter words, and longer words with a Silent E.
Three-Letter Silent E Words
ace, age, ale, ape, ate, bye, cue, die, doe, due, dye, eke, eve, eye, foe, ice, lie, lye, owe, pie, roe, rye, sue, toe, use, woe
Long A Four-Letter Words
babe, bade, bake, bale, bare, cage, cake, came, cane, cape, care, case, cave, dare, date, daze, face, fade, fate, fake, fame, fare, fate, faze, gale, gate, gave, gaze, hare, hate, have, haze, kale, lace, lake, lame, lane, late, made, make, male, mane, mare, mate, maze, name, nape, pace, page, pale, pane, pare, race, rage, rake, rare, rate, rave, raze, safe, sage, sale, same, sane, save, take, tale, tame, tape, vane, vase, wade, wage, wake, wane, ware, wave
Long E Four-Letter Words
cede, here, meme, mere, mete, we’re, we’ve
(Note that there just aren’t very many silent E words with a long E sound.)
Long I Four Letter Words
bike, bile, bite, dice, dime, dine, dire, dive, fife, file, fine, fire, hide, hike, hire, hive, jive, kite, lice, life, like, lime, line, live, mice, mike, mile, mine, mire, nice, nine, pile, pine, rice, ride, ripe, side, site, tide, tile, time, tine, tire, vile, vine, vise, wide, wile, wipe, wire, wise
Long O Four Letter Words
bone, bore, code, coke, cone, cope, core, cove, doze, fore, hole, home, hone, hope, hose, joke, lobe, lode, lone, lore, mode, mole, mope, mote, node, nope, note, poke, pole, pope, pore, robe, rode, role, rope, rose, rove, sole, tore, tote, vote, woke, wore, wove
Long U Four Letter Words
cube, cure, cute, dude, duke, dune, fume, huge, lure, mule, muse, mute, nuke, pure, rude, rule, sure, tube
Longer Silent E Words
adore, blame, blare, brave, bride, calculate, close, clothe, crane, crime, cupcake, dance, drive, evoke, extreme, fable, fleece, fluke, flute, frame, gauge, goose, grace, grate, grave, grove, handle, hence, loose, moose, orate, plane, scene, skate, slate, spite, state, stove, stripe, tadpole, whine, wrote
Grab Our Free Silent “E” Printable!
Silent E Rules for Pronunciation
Source: Latoya Burrows on Pinterest
Silent E is known for “making the vowel say its name,” and that’s one of its most important jobs. But that final E has other pronunciation effects on words too. Here are some to teach your students.
1. Silent E makes the vowel before it long
Examples: Think CVCe words like cap vs. cape or mop vs. mope. There are also a handful of 3-letter silent e words where it changes pronunciation, like do vs. doe.
2. It makes C and G soft
Examples: Dance, wage, or stage
3. Silent E makes TH soft
Examples: Bathe, soothe, or lithe
4. When it appears with an L at the end, it adds a syllable to words
Examples: Bundle, simple, or handle
See more ways that Silent E can affect words at All About Learning Press.
Activities and Ideas for Teaching Silent E
These Silent E activities, songs, and videos will help your students master this challenging concept.
Vintage Silent E
Here’s a throwback to share with your kids! Tom Lehrer wrote this one back in the 1970s for The Electric Company, but the message (and the song) are just as relevant today.
Silent E is a Ninja
For a more updated take on Silent E videos, try this clip with Lin-Manuel Miranda, also from The Electric Company. Silent E is definitely sneaky!
The Mighty Silent E Read-aloud
This read-aloud tells the story of Silent E, as he learns just how special he truly is.
The Bossy E
Here’s one more Silent E video, this one starring the Bossy E!
Wave the Magic E wand
Play off the idea of “Magic E” with these fun Silent E wands! Add it to the end of CVC words and watch the magic happen.
Learn more: Playdough to Plato
Go on a word hunt
Send kids on a word hunt through a book, magazine, or newspaper to find Silent E words. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the “oddballs” that don’t fit the rules.
Learn more: The Measured Mom
Hang a Sneaky E anchor chart
A colorful chart like this one will look terrific hanging in your classroom, and it will help students remember how the sneaky Silent E works.
Learn more: Emily Education
Add a sticky note
This is such a clever anchor chart! Add a sticky note Silent E to each word to see how the sound changes (and sometimes makes a whole new word).
Source: @thekinderheartedclassroom
Make Silent E flip strips
These smart strips demonstrate the power of a Magic E. Have kids write their own on paper strips, or buy a set from Tickled Pink in Primary.
Line up and add an E
Get students up and moving with this fun activity. Make your E sparkly for extra impact!
Grab Our Free Silent “E” Printable!
Learn more: For the Love of First Grade
What are your favorite tips for teaching silent e words? Come share in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.
Plus, what are sight words, and how do I teach them?
As we have established, English pronunciation is crazy, and silent letters can sometimes seem extra crazy. Silent E isn’t quite as crazy as some other words. Silent N and silent B and silent K are a little useless in English.
But silent E is different. It’s a very useful pattern to learn. Unlike some other letters, silent E tells us some very important information about the other vowels in the word.
C-V-C Words
Before reading on about silent E, we really recommend reviewing consonant-vowel-consonant (C-V-C) words. This article will give you a strong background for understanding how silent E works in English.
However, if you don’t have time for that, the short version is this: In 3-letter words that are made of a consonant, then a vowel, then a consonant, the vowel is usually pronounced with a short vowel sound.
Silent E words follow the C-V-C pattern, but with an E at the end, so they become C-V-C-E words. Adding the -E at the end changes the short vowel sound to a long vowel sound.
For example:
-
Hat /hæt/ has a short A sound, and hate /heɪt/ has a long A sound.
-
Bid /bɪd/ has a short I sound, and bide /baɪd/ has a long I sound.
-
Hop /hɑp/ has a short O sound, and hope /hoʊp/ has a long O sound.
Adding Suffixes to Silent E Words
So when we learned about C-V-C words, we learned that you must double the last consonant. For example, rap, becomes rapped in the simple past and rapping in the present continuous. When you see an unfamiliar word with a double consonant before the suffix —ed or —ing (maybe stropped or thrumming, for example), you can safely guess that the vowel sound is short and that the base form is a C-V-C word (that is, strop and thrum).
With silent E (or C-V-C-E words), we do not double that last consonant when adding a suffix, such as —ed or —ing (or —er or —est for adjectives). Compare these examples of C-V-C and C-V-C-E words to notice the pattern:
hope ➞ hoped and hoping (no E)
hop ➞ hopped and hopping (double P)
Here’s another:
pine ➞ pined and pining (no e)
pin ➞ pinned and pinning (double N)
Complete list of Silent E Words
Here are over 200 examples of silent E words:
Silent E Words with Long A
babe, bade, bake, bale, bane, bare, cage, cake, came, cane, cape, care, case cave, dale, dame, dare, date, daze, face, fade, fate, fake, fame, fare, fate, faze, gale, gape, gate, gave, gaze, hare, hate, have, haze, jade, jane, kale, lace, lake, lame, lane, late, mace, made, mage, make, male, mane, mare, mate, maze, name, nape, nave, pace, page, pale, pane, pare, pate, race, rage, rake, rape, rare, rate, rave, raze, safe, sage, sale, same, sane, sate, save, take, tale, tame, tape, tase, tare, vale, vane, vape, vase, wade, wage, wake, wane, ware, wave
Silent E Words with Long E*
cede, here, lede, meme, mere, mete, we’re, we’ve
*see note below.
Silent E Words with Long I
bide, bike, bile, bite, cite, dice, dike, dime, dine, dire, dive, fife, file, fine, fire, hide, hike, hire, hive, jibe, jive, kite, lice, life, like, lime, line, lite, live, mice, mike, mile, mime, mine, mire, mite, nice, nine, pike, pile, pine, rice, ride, rile, ripe, side, sire, site, tide, tile, time, tine, tire, vile, vine, vise, wide, wile, wine, wipe, wire, wise, wive
Silent E Words with Long O
bode, bone, bore, code, coke, cone, cope, core, cove, dole, dope, dote, doze, fore, hole, home, hone, hope, hose, joke, lobe, lode, lone, lore, mode, mole, mope, mote, node, nope, note, poke, pole, pope, pore, robe, rode, role, rope, rose, rote, rove, sole, toke, tore, tote, vote, woke, wore, wove
Silent E Words with Long U
cube, cuke, cure, cute, dude, duke, dune, dupe, fume, huge, june, lube, luge, lure, mule, muse, mute, nude, nuke, puke, pure, rube, rude, rule, sure, tube, yule
Exceptions and notes
-ORE words do not have a long O sound. Bore, core, fore, lore, more, tore, and wore rhyme with four.
You may notice that there are very few silent E words with a long E in the middle. This is because we have many other common ways to spell the long E, such as the -EA- in dear and meal and the -EE- in seen and feet.
More Free English Resources
Have you read our other posts on English pronunciation? If not, take a look at Silent K, Silent N, Silent G and Silent L, and Deleted Syllables.
Silent E Words in English
This exhaustive free printable list of Silent E words comes with seven picture matching worksheets for targeted individual or group practice. All the words follow the VCe pattern (Vowel-Consonant-e) and are sorted according to vowel, allowing for reading and dictation practice.
Matching pictures are included to help support readers as they begin to understand the important job of the Silent e!
What’s a VCe Word?
VCe stands for Vowel-Consonant-e, so these are words that follow this specific pattern at the end of the word. They can also be called magic e, silent e, or bossy e.
They contain long vowel sounds that students should learn to recognize as being caused by the e.
Students should practice explicitly noticing patterns in these words, so they can practice marking and labeling VCe words, or matching them as they do here!
Educational Focus: The Silent e word list and worksheets are excellent to use with kids in 1st through 3rd grade!
Teaching VCe Words
After children have a solid grasp on CVC words and short vowels, they are ready to learn about long vowels.
And students should know what long vowels are. So I recommend practicing and repeating this jingle, tapping each word on the table as we say, “Long Vowels Say Their Name.”
The first pattern I introduce for long vowels is the VCe pattern, since this is the most prevalent.
I usually introduce this concept using the word “like” since this is a high frequency sight word that my students already know.
By finger tapping each sound, I show my students how the “i” doesn’t say /ĭ/. Instead, it says its name: /ī/. As I continue finger tapping, I show that the /k/ is the last sound I hear.
How strange that I don’t hear any sound when I get to the letter ‘e.’ Why is that? And that’s when I teach about the very important job of the Silent e!
Word List
The first sheet included in this bundle is a comprehensive list offers 75 VCe words, organized by vowel. Included next to each word is a corresponding picture. You can use this list in a variety of ways:
- Anchor Chart
Print a large copy and use as an anchor chart in your classroom. Hang it on your sound wall for further reinforcement. - Reading Fluency
Print individual copies for students to glue into their notebooks. Students can practice reading fluency by reading the words down the columns, making sure they hear the long vowel sound in each word. For example, if they’re reading down the /ō/ column, they should clearly hear an /ō/ in every word they say. Self-monitoring is important here because kids must ensure they’re matching the words they say with the pictures they see. - Dictation
Teachers can use as a quick resource for word dictation practice. The teacher calls out a word and students write the word in notebooks or on whiteboards. You can easily check to see if the concept is transferring to spelling. - Vocabulary
Students may not know all of the words included in these resources, and that’s okay! We always want to connect words with meaning. Once they know the VCe rule, children can be confident that they’re reading the words correctly. For example, when they know the rule: o consonant e says /ō/, then they can be sure they’re pronouncing the word ‘woke’ correctly when they read it. However, they may not know the meaning of the word. The pictures help with that!
Picture Match (7 Pages)
The seven worksheets include words and pictures and are organized by vowels, with one worksheet focused on each of the five vowels for focused instruction.
I usually introduce the concept of VCe with all vowels at once, and then spend a few days practicing each long vowel individually. These worksheets are perfect for that!
Then, there are two worksheets that include all vowels for mixed practice.
👉 Many of the words included in these resources include consonant blends. Be sure you have taught consonant blends before using this resource.
👉 All words are one-syllable words, except for a few words listed in the /ē/ column. This is because there are very few one syllable words in English that follow this pattern.
I still like to briefly introduce this rule to my students and provide a few examples that follow this pattern. That’s why I included some two syllable words in this section.
Your students may need some additional assistance reading these more complex words, especially if you haven’t taught syllable types and syllable division yet.
For Magic e orthographic mapping practice, get our printable Sound Boxes (Elkonin boxes) and letters… with an extra special magic e!
- Silent E Word Find Worksheets
- Magic Wand Silent E Printables
- First 100 High Frequency Words
- Teaching Closed Syllables
Download & Print
TERMS: All resources and printables are designed for personal use only in your own home and classroom. Each person must visit this site and download their own free copy. Please do not photocopy, email, or reproduce our printable resources for other teachers, and please do not reproduce our printables on the web or save them to a shared drive. Instead, please share the resources with others by using the social share links provided or by distributing the link to the blog post itself. This allows us to keep making free resources for everyone! If you have any questions, please email us. Please see our Creative Credits page for information regarding the licensed ClipArt used in our resources. Thank you!
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Expert solutions
building
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Created by
Kelsey_MeisenbacherTeacher
Terms in this set (7)
building
a place with walls and a roof
tongue
manipulates food for chewing and swallowing; a taste organ
guitar
a stringed instrument usually having six strings
guess
to form an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much or anything about it
guest
visitor
biscuit
cookie
guilty
having done something wrong
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