Word grouped by sound

Group 1: The First Vowel Sounds Spelled in Basic Code Only

The multisyllable words on these lists contain only the /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ sounds spelled with the letters a, e, i, o, and u, respectively. They contain no /ow/ sounds, no /er/ sounds, etc., so can be useful for working on multisyllable words without having to worry about advanced code vowel spellings. If a word contains more than one basic code vowel spelling, it will appear on the list for the highest letter in the alphabet. For example, the word mathematics has /a/, /e/, and /i/ vowel sounds and will appear only on the /i/ list.

Group 2: The Second Vowel Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 3: The Ar, Or, Er, and Err Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 4: The Remaining Vowel Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 5: Basic Code Vowel Sounds — Alternative Spellings

A word list in this group will contain all multisyllable words in the database where basic code vowel sounds are not spelled in basic code. For example, the U (touch) list will have all words in which the digraph ou represents the /u/ sound. Note that the schwa sound in many words is converted to a precise pronunciation, so a word like son is included on the O(hot) list.

Would you like this sound words list as a free PDF poster with pictures? Click here to get it.

We hear different sounds all the time. But how do we actually say them as words?

There are many different words for sounds. Let’s look at 42 sound words in English (plus some useful idioms with sound words).

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1. Sounds of things hitting things

Thud

The sound of something heavy falling and hitting the ground.

I don’t know why she’s dropping a brick from a high chair.

But it does make a fun sound.

Whack

The sound of a short, heavy hit.

This can also be used as a verb:

“She whacked him in the head with the pillow.”

Slap

The sound of someone hitting something (or someone) with an open hand.

You’ll hear this word a lot in idioms:

A slap in the face is used when someone has done something bad to you (given you something you don’t want or not given you something that you do want, for example), usually unfairly.

“I did all of the work for the project and then Sam gets the promotion — not fair. What a slap in the face!”

A slap on the wrist is when someone gets punished — but very, very lightly. Much less than they deserve:

“You heard about Hexon Oil? They polluted every lake in the country and only got a $2000 fine. It was barely a slap on the wrist, really.”

A slap-up meal is basically a massive meal — the kind of meal you have when you really don’t want to think about your weight or your health. Just enjoy it!

“I’ve sold the house! I’m taking you all out for a slap-up meal at Mrs Miggins’ pie shop!”

A slapdash job or slapdash work is work done really badly. I remember waiting in a cafe at Sofia airport, and these Austrian guys found it quite funny that there was just one plug socket in the whole cafe. And it was halfway up the wall. The designer definitely did a slapdash job:

“Don’t get that builder. He did such a slapdash job on our house that the roof fell in.”

Knock

OK, so “knock” is the sound that you make when you arrive at your friend’s house and hit their door with your hand.

There’s also the phrase “don’t knock it.”

It basically means “don’t criticise it.”

“Banana and crisp sandwiches are actually really good! Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!”

Rattle

Stay away! It’s a rattlesnake. And it’s rattling its tail.

As a verb, “rattle” can also mean “disturb.”

Think about classic action heroes.

They can fall out of planes, jump off the edges of mountains, survive car crashes, helicopter crashes and bike crashes; they can be forced to swim underwater for five minutes and then run 200 metres over burning coals.

And after that, they’re just fine, right?

That’s because nothing rattles them. Nothing!

Splat

The sound of something wet hitting something else.

Like when you throw eggs or rotten tomatoes at the visiting politician.

Or a water balloon at your friend.

Clunk

This is one of those words that sounds like it sounds, if you know what I mean.

It’s a heavy, dull sound.

Clang

A noisy, metallic sound.

Clink

This is like clang’s baby brother.

It’s a small, sharp sound — usually made when metal or glass touches something.

Patter

A light tapping sound.

We usually use it to describe rain:

“I love sleeping through storms, don’t you! The patter of rain on the roof and knowing you’re safe and sound in bed.”

When I was a kid (and for too long afterwards — she still does this when I visit) my mother would greet me when I came downstairs in the morning with:

“You’re awake! I thought I heard the patter of tiny feet!”
“Mum — I’m 37 years old.”

Clatter

Clang is noisy and unpleasant, right?

Now imagine lots of clangs. That’s clatter.

Smash

The sound of something breaking into a million pieces. Usually violently.

“Smashing” can also mean “excellent”:

“She did such a smashing job that we hired her full time.”

Slam

We usually use this to describe closing a door very loudly.

But we can use it for other similar situations.

You can slam the phone down (if you’re using a non-mobile phone, like the retro kid you are).

You can also slam a glass on the table. (Think tequila shots.)

If someone slams the door in your face, they basically decide not to help you or give you information that you need.

“I called the helpline about it, but they refused to help. Completely slammed the door in my face.”

You can also just “slam” something. It means “give a very, very negative review.”

“The New York Times completely slammed his new book. But I thought it was pretty good.”

2. Mechanical sounds

Honk

When I lived in Istanbul, I would play a game.

I would try to count to five without hearing a single car honk its horn.

I never got past three seconds.

Also — it was a terrible game. But I was bored.

Whir

A continuous sound — usually quiet, often calming.

Tick

We almost always think of clocks and watches when we hear the word “tick.”

It’s that tiny, short sound.

So it wouldn’t surprise you to hear that we can use the phrase “time is ticking” to mean “hurry up!”

“Let’s get started! Time’s ticking.”

If you’re a bit angry (not furious — just a bit), then you can say that you’re “ticked off.”

“To be honest, I’m a bit ticked off. I didn’t expect you to tell everyone about what I told you. It was private.”

“In a tick” can also mean “in a minute,” “in a second,” “in a moment” or just “soon.”

“Take a seat. I’ll be with you in a tick.”

Click

A small, sharp sound.

Think about a light switch.

Or this annoying guy and his annoying pen.

When you click with someone, you immediately get on well. You start talking and it feels as if you’ve always been friends.

“I’ve been friends with Gudrun for 20 years. We clicked as soon as we met.”

Bang

A loud noise! Usually sudden.

This is most closely associated with guns. But the building site next to my house also produces a lot of bangs.

If you go out with a bang, you finish or leave something in a super-dramatic way.

“Wow! His last day of work and he throws coffee in the boss’s face! Talk about going out with a bang!”

When someone bangs on about something, they talk for ages about it while successfully boring the life out of whoever has the bad luck to listen to them.

“If you could just stop banging on about your new computer for a minute, I’d like to talk to you about what happened last weekend.”

Buzz

The sound of something vibrating.

When we talk about the buzz of a place, we’re talking about that special energy it has.

Some cities (like Vienna) have a real buzz, while some cities (like Swindon) don’t.

“What I miss about Istanbul most is the buzz. And the food. But mostly the buzz.”

You can also buzz someone in when you’re at home, and someone wants to get into the building. It saves you from having to walk all the way downstairs to let them in.

“Hey! I’m outside your flat now. Can you buzz me in?”

Finally, you can give someone a buzz. It just means “give them a quick call.”

“Let’s have that drink on Friday. Just give me a buzz, and I’ll let you know where I am.”

3. Electronic sounds

Ping

This is the sound of a very small bell.

Think of a typewriter or a hotel reception desk.

Blip

A ping will last for a long time (piiiinnnggggg). But a blip is very, very short.

Think of a radar in those films with too many submarines in.

Beep

A blip sounds quite nice, but a beep can get very annoying very quickly.

I don’t know how people working as supermarket cashiers don’t go crazy. Do they still hear the beeps when they go to sleep at night?

4. Organic sounds

Snap

A sudden breaking sound — think of the sound of wood breaking.

I guess because it’s quite an unpredictable sound, we can also use “snap” as a verb to mean “suddenly get angry.” When you snap, it’s probably a result of lots of things building up.

“It was when her kid put his school tie in the toaster that she finally snapped.”

It also has a second meaning.

Have you ever tried to talk to someone, and instead of saying “Hi!” or “Good to see you!” or “Nice hair,” they just angrily shout at you — completely unpredictable and sudden?

Then they snapped at you.

“I wouldn’t talk to him right now, if I were you. I just asked him if he was OK, and he snapped at me.”

You can also just say “snap” when someone else has something that you have. It could be a plan, an interest, or something physical, like a T-shirt.

“No way! Snap! I’ve got the exact same phone.”

Finally, there’s a snap election.

It’s a general election that the prime minister or president suddenly announces — usually because they think they’ll win. All of a sudden, we’re voting. Again!

“She said she wouldn’t call a snap election. Then she did.”

Crack

It’s like a loud snap.

If you want to celebrate, you can do so in style — by cracking open a bottle of champagne:

“You got the job?! Awesome — let’s crack open a bottle, yeah?”

If you drink too much of it, you might find EVERYTHING funny and just crack up all the time. It means suddenly start laughing. A lot. Until your face hurts.

“I told him my idea, and he just cracked up. I didn’t think it was that funny.”

Crackle

Lots of small cracks.

Fire and fireworks crackle. And not much else.

Pop

A tiny, little, mini explosion sound.

Because it’s such a short sound, we use it in phrasal verbs to describe something quick.

You can pop out (go outside — but only for a bit):

“I’m just popping out for some fresh air. See you in a few minutes.”

Or you can pop in somewhere (visit — but only for a bit):

“When you’re in town, why not pop in for a coffee?”

Sizzle

The sound of food cooking.

Rustle

There are basically only two things that rustle.

Leaves (especially dry, autumn leaves) and paper.

To rustle something up means to make a quick meal — like a sandwich or some toast.

“You haven’t eaten? Give me two minutes — I’ll rustle something up.”

Rumble

A continuous, deep sound.

Think of thunder.

Or your stomach when you’re really hungry.

5. Water sounds

Fizz

That nice sound of bubbles popping. Think about sparkling water or champagne.

Squelch

You just need to say this word to understand what it means.

Go on, say it. Feels good, doesn’t it?

It’s basically the sound of walking in mud.

Gurgle

This is the sound of bubbles being created.

Imagine lying down in the green grass next to a beautiful stream.

What can you hear?

The gurgle of the stream of course.

And the lion. Look out for the lion.

Glug

If gurgle is a series of sounds, then glug is a single one of those sounds.

Think of how you sound when you’re drinking water quickly.

Drip

“Drip” looks like “drop,” right?

Well, “drip” is the sound that a drop makes when it hits something.

Splash

The sound of something hitting water (or any liquid).

Think of the sound of kids in the bath.

Or the sound at the end of a water slide.

If you feel like spending a little more money than you should, then you splash out.

“Yeah, it’s a bit pricey. But it’s my birthday. I’m gonna splash out.”

Trickle

This is the sound of liquid flowing very slowly.

Squeal

Don’t step on the rat’s tail. He’ll squeal really loudly.

Also, it’s not nice. Leave the rat alone, you monster.

Squeak

A squeak is a small, high-pitched sound.

Think of the sound of a mouse.

Or an old bed.

Or a door that needs oil.

I once had a pair of shoes that squeaked a lot.

You can also use the phrase “a squeak out of someone” to describe any sound coming out of their mouth at all. It’s usually used in the negative.

“Right. He’s coming. I don’t want to hear a squeak out of either of you until he’s gone. I’ll do the talking.”

Hiss

OK. Repeat after me:

“Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.”

Good — you’ve just made a hiss.

Swish

This is another word that sounds like it sounds. (These words are called onomatopoeia, by the way.)

It’s a bit like a mixture between a hiss and a rustle.

Creak

When you open that old, heavy wooden door.

Or decide to take your kids to a playground that was built in the ‘50s.

Then expect to hear a lot of loud, high-pitched sounds of wood and metal rubbing together.

A lot of creaks.

Scrape

The sound of something hard or sharp rubbing against something else.

We use this a lot as a verb.

You might have to scrape ice off your car on winter mornings.

Or scrape the pancake off the pan after you’ve burned it.

Or scrape chewing gum off the table. Seriously, why do people do that?

There’s also the idiom “to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”

We use it when we’ve almost completely run out of options, and all we have are the worst choices.

“Is this the best we can do? We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I mean some of them don’t even have faces.”

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Congratulations! You now know 42 sound words in English (plus some new idioms).

So let’s practice:

1. Have you splashed out on something recently (like a slap-up meal or clothes)?
2. What ticks you off the most?
3. Can you remember cracking up over something that wasn’t funny? What was it?

Answer in the comments!

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Learning spelling word lists can be tedious and time consuming for your child. How can you make it more fun? Are certain lists easier to learn than others? Keep reading to see what you can do to help your child learn their spellings with ease.

Some spelling lists are subject-related, containing words that children are likely to come across in their studies. Others are lists of high frequency words, such as the dolch word list or lists of words commonly used by children in their writing. While it is undoubtably important that your child is able to spell these words correctly, some children may find them difficult to learn, since there is no common spelling pattern linking the words. One solution is to play spelling games with your child to help them learn the words on these types of spelling word lists.

Alternatively, a spelling word list which groups words into common patterns can often be easier to learn. Words can be grouped in a number of different ways, for example they may follow common patterns of:

• vowel sound (eg ‘ou’ sound such about, found, brown, flower)
• consonant sound (eg ‘gh’ words such as laugh, rough, enough)
• word family (eg ‘ight’ words such as bright, light, fight)
• suffix (eg ‘-ful’ such as hopeful, thankful, stressful)
• prefix (eg ‘ad-‘ such as addict, adhesive, adjourn)
• spelling rule (eg «When a word ends with a short vowel followed by a consonant, double the last consonant before adding ‘ed'» such as dropped, shopped, admitted)

Other groupings are also possible such as homophones, contraction words or compound words. Try these spelling lists which combine many of the above groupings and organise them by year group.

I am a fan of the Word Study approach, which encourages children to study groups of words which share similar spelling patterns. Your child becomes a ‘word detective’ as they try to make sense of word patterns and subsequently build up their word knowledge.

Spelling word lists which are grouped by vowel sound or consonant sound particularly lend themselves to the Word Study approach. Also, since my son often makes errors in the spelling of vowel sounds in particular, I decided to create a series of spelling word lists grouped by vowel sound.

Below I explain how I created these spelling word lists and how they can be used to play a fun game.

Creating the Spelling Word Lists by Vowel Sound

The first step was to choose a list of words. I used this spelling vocabulary list on the Reading Rockets website which contains 850 common words that account for 80 percent of the words children use in their writing. The list is grouped by grade level so I mainly used the words from Grades 1 to 3 (ages 6 to 9). We have, in fact, already used this word list before in the Spelling Words Booklet which my son uses while he is writing to check word spellings.

Having chosen the spelling words to practice, I grouped all these words by vowel sound, and then created sub-groups of the different spelling variations associated with each sound. For example, I first identified all the words in the spelling list with the /ai/ sound. Then I grouped these words according to the four basic spelling variations of the /ai/ sound: ‘ai’ as in nail and rain; ‘a’ as in table and paper; ‘a-e’ as in cake and made; and ‘ay’ as is play and stay. Three words were on the list with different spelling variations for the /ai/ sound: great, eight and they. These three I grouped together in an ‘oddball’ category. After the /ai/ sound, I moved on to other sounds such as /ee/ , /igh/ , /oa/ , /u/ etc.

An excellent summary of the phonic sounds with their different spelling alternatives can be found in The Alphabetic Code Chart from Phonics International. I used this chart to guide me in creating the sound-focused spelling word lists. You can read more about phonic sounds here.

Spelling Word Lists by Vowel Sound

Below you can find the spelling word lists which I created by vowel sound. These are based on an English accent and so there may be differences with other regional accents.

I did not include words with the short vowel sounds /a/ as in ‘flag’ or /i/ as in ‘bring’ because there are not many commonly used spelling variations for these vowel sounds and so they are easy words to spell.

I also left out some of the longer multi-syllable words with two or more vowel sounds, such as ‘something’, ‘never’ or ‘behind’, where it might be confusing which vowel sound we were using.

Finally, if I couldn’t find enough words for a particular category in the list of 850 common words, I added others not included on the list, drawing on these resources for spelling word lists.

1. /ai/ as in rain. Spelling variations a, a-e, ai, ay.
   Overview /ai/
   Word Cards /ai/
2. /ee/ as in been. Spelling variations e, ea, ee.
   Overview /ee/
   Word Cards /ee/
3. /igh/ as in fight. Spelling variations i, i-e, igh, y.
   Overview /igh/
   Word Cards /igh/
4. /oa/ as in boat. Spelling variations o, o-e, oa, ow.
   Overview /oa/
   Word Cards /oa/
5. /u/ as in jump. Spelling variations o, u.
   Overview /u/
   Word Cards /u/
6. /o/ as in from. Spelling variations o, a.
   Overview /o/
   Word Cards /o/
7. /e/ as in send. Spelling variations a, ai, e, ea.
   Overview /e/
   Word Cards /e/
8. /or/ as in short. Spelling variations a, or, al, aw, oor, ore, our.
   Overview /or/
   Word Cards /or/
9. /ar/ as in start. Spelling variations a, ar.
   Overview /ar/
   Word Cards /ar/
10. /oo/ as in good. Spelling variations oo, oul, u.
    Overview /oo/
    Word Cards /oo/
11. /oo/ as in moon. Spelling variations oo, o, ou, ew, ue, u-e.
    Overview /oo/
    Word Cards /oo/
12. /ou/ as in found. Spelling variations ou, ow.
    Overview /ou/
    Word Cards /ou/
13. /er/ as in were. Spelling variations er, ir, ur, ear, or.
    Overview /er/
    Word Cards /er/
14. /oi/ as in point. Spelling variations oi, oy.
    Overview /oi/
    Word Cards /oi/
15. /air/ as in hair. Spelling variations air, are, ear, ere.
    Overview /air/
    Word Cards /air/
16. /eer/ as in deer. Spelling variations ear, ere, eer, ier.
    Overview /eer/
    Word Cards /eer/
17. /yoo/ as in few. Spelling variations u-e, ew, u, -ue.
    Overview /yoo/
    Word Cards /yoo/

Playing With The Spelling Word Lists

First choose which vowel sound you want to practice and print off the relevant Word Cards using the links above. Cut out the Word Cards and then ask your child to sort them under the appropriate header (printed in red). Those which don’t fit under a specific column should be placed under the ‘oddball’ category.

In this way your child familiarises themselves with the different spelling variations for this vowel sound, and which words are spelt with which variation. You can check they have sorted the cards correctly by referring to the relevant Overview file, found by clicking on the links above.

Now your child is ready to play!

Try this Spelling Word Board Game which you can play with a regular Snakes and Ladders game board or print out a specially prepared board. Before each move, read out a Word Card to your child. If they identify the correct spelling for the vowel sound in the word by waving the correct mini-banner, they move forward the number of places shown on the dice. If they are wrong, they move back the number of places shown on the dice.

Your child will also have fun playing this Spelling Word Bingo Game. Choose a Word Card from the box and read it out. Ask your child to find a square on the bingo board which contains the correct spelling variation for that word. If they are correct, they write the word in the square. If they are wrong, the Word Card goes back in the box.

Other Spelling Lists by Vowel and Consonant Sound

Here are two other great resources for practicing spelling by vowel or consonant sound. You can also use these to find other words to add to the spelling lists above:

• Mr Thorne’s Spellbook iphone and ipad app. Contains 101 spelling tests based on vowel and consonant sounds. Score 10 out of 10 to unlock the safe and obtain the treasure.
• Word Sorts for within Word Pattern Spellers provides fifty word sorts to practice vowel and consonant sounds.

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Words coined by this type of word-bilding are
made by imitating different kinds of sounds that may be produced by
animals, birds, insects, human beings and inanimate objects.

It is of some interest that sounds produced by
the same kind of animal are frequently represented by quite different
sound groups in different languages. For instance, English dogs bark
(cf. the R.лаять). The
English cock criescock-a-doodle-doo (cf. the R.ку—ка—ре—ку).

1. Reduplication

In reduplication new words are made by
doubling a stem, either without any phonetic changes as inbye-bye
(coll, forgood-bye) or with a variation of the root-vowel
or consonant as inping-pong, chit-chat (болтовня).
This second type is calledgradational reduplication.

Stylistically speaking, most words made by
reduplication represent informal groups: colloquialisms and slang.
E.g. walkie-talkie(a portable radio), riff-raff (the
dregs of society –подонки,сброд), chi-chi (slang forchic
(шик) as inchi-chi
girl)).

1. Back-Formation (Reversion)

The earliest examples of this type of
word-building are the verb to beg that was made from the
French borrowingbeggar, to burgle from burglar, to cobble
from cobbler. In all these cases the verb was made from
the noun by subtracting what was mistakenly associated with the
English suffix —er. The pattern of the typeto work –
worker was firmly established in the subconscious of
English-speaking people at the time when these formations appeared,
and it was taken for granted that any noun denoting profession or
occupation is certain to have a corresponding verb of the same root.
So, in the case of the verbsto beg, to burgle, to cobble (чинить
обувь) the process
was reversed: instead of the noun made from a verb by affixation ( as
inpainterfromto paint), a verb was produced from a
noun by subtraction. That is why this type of word-building received
the name ofback-formation or reversion.

Answer these
questions.

1. What is understood by composition? What do
   we call words made by this type of word-building?

2. Into what groups and subgroups can
   compounds be subdivided structurally? Illustrate your answer with
   examples.

3. Which types of composition are productive
   in Modern English?

4. What are the interrelationships between the
   meaning of a compound word and the meanings of its constituent
   parts?

5. What are the criteria for distinguishing
   between a compound and a word-combination?

6. What are the italicized elements in the
   words given below? What makes them different from affixes? from
   stems?

statesman,
waterproof, cat-like.

1. What are the two processes of making
   shortenings? Explain the productivity of this way of word-building
   and stylistic characteristics of shortened words. Give examples.

2. What minor processes of word-building do
   you know? Describe them and illustrate your answer with examples.

Vocabulary

ambiguous двусмысленный

arbitrary произвольный

back—formation,
reversion обратное
словообразование

blend сочетаться

cohesion сцепление

contribute способствовать

correlation соотношение

enigmatic загадочный

homogeneous однородный

hyphenated дефисный,черездефис

misleading вводящийвзаблуждение

onomatopoeia ономатопея,звукоподражание

overabundance избыток

preserve сохранять

reduplication удвоение

gradational reduplicationчастичноеповторение

semi-affixes полуаффиксы

subconscious подсознание

subtraction вычитание

trace след,отпечаток

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