Kindergarten · 28 words · the vowel in apple

Short a CVC words

Short a is the sound at the start of apple, and for many children it is the first vowel they feel sure of. Say it and notice your mouth: it opens wide and your jaw drops. That big, obvious movement makes the sound easier to feel than the other vowels, which is one reason short a is where many programs begin.

The words below are every short a CVC word we use, from bag and bat to wag and yam. Several of them belong to families that share an ending: the -at words (bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat), the -an words (can, fan, man, pan, van) and the -ap words (cap, gap, lap, map, nap, tap). Once your child can read one word in a family, the rest are a change of first letter away.

All 28 short a CVC words, A to Z

  • bad
  • bag
  • bat
  • can
  • cap
  • cat
  • dad
  • fan
  • fat
  • gap
  • hat
  • jam
  • lap
  • mad
  • man
  • map
  • mat
  • nap
  • pad
  • pan
  • rag
  • rat
  • sad
  • tag
  • tap
  • van
  • wag
  • yam

Printable word list and practice sheet (PDF) — page 1 is the 28 words; page 2 has, for each word, three boxes for its sounds and a line to write it. Free to print, no sign-up.

About the short a sound

The short a sound is /a/, as in apple. In a CVC word it sits between two consonants and is said quickly: not "aaa" held out, but a short, flat sound. When you model blending, stretch the first consonant, drop quickly into the vowel and end with the last consonant: mmm-a-p, map.

Many children find the beginning of a short a word easy and the end the place to slip. Watch for the final consonant, since a word like tap can come out as tab or tag when a child is tired. Ask them to say the last sound by itself before they say the whole word again.

Mix-ups to expect

  • Short a for short e, as in pan and pen. The sounds are close, and some children hear one as the other. Say both words, and exaggerate: a with a wide mouth, e with a smaller one.
  • Dad and bad, pad and bad. The letters b, d and p turn up in many of these words and look alike on the page. Tracing the first letter with a finger often settles it.
  • Words that end in -ag, like bag and rag, are sometimes read as "bayg", pulled toward a long a. If that happens, return to the single sound: a as in apple, not as in day.

How to practice at home

  • Start with one family, such as cat, bat, hat and mat, and read it three ways: you read, your child reads, then you take turns.
  • Write the words on cards and sort them into piles by ending. Seeing -an, -ap and -ag gathered together shows how much repeats.
  • Tap out the sounds on your fingers: one tap for each sound, then slide a finger along your arm as you say the whole word.
  • Use a few of the words in silly sentences together: "Dad has a sad cat." Reading a sentence is a good test of whether the words stick.
  • Keep each session short. A handful of words a day, with a quick game at the end, is plenty.

A word ladder

A word ladder shows how one letter changes a word. Start at the first word and change one letter each step:

cat → bat → bag → rag → tag → tap → map

These are Tutorsaurus’s own lists, built from the words in our reading and spelling practice plus a few common additions. They are not an official list, and your child’s school may use different words.

More CVC word lists