Spelling Word Lists Aligned to UFLI Foundations

One of the most common questions teachers have when using UFLI Foundations is: if I want to use word lists aligned to UFLI Foundations’s scope and sequence, what words should I use for spelling practice and tests? The UFLI program includes word lists within each lesson, but teachers often want additional words that match the same phonics pattern for extra practice, differentiation, homework, or assessment.

This page organizes spelling words by the phonics patterns taught in the UFLI scope and sequence, so you can find word lists that align to wherever your students are in the program. Please note that this original content and is not created by UFLI.

How to use these word lists

These word lists follow a similar progression as UFLI Foundations. Each group of words targets the phonics pattern introduced in that phase of the curriculum. You can use them for:

• Spelling tests and quizzes - Give a weekly spelling assessment using words from the current lesson’s pattern
• Additional practice - Supplement UFLI’s built-in encoding activities with more words
• Differentiation - Use simpler words from the list for students who need more support, or more complex words for students who are ready to stretch
• Homework - Send home word lists that match what’s being taught in class
• Sorts - Use the words for open or closed sort activities
• Roll and Read - Generate worksheets directly from these lists
• Games - Provide additional spelling practice opportunities through games

All of these word lists are available as ready-to-use spelling tests on Spelling Test Buddy. You can assign each of them to students with just a couple of clicks, and track their results automatically.

Phase 1: Short vowels and CVC words

These are the foundational words. Every sound maps to one letter, and every word follows the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern. This list does not include the heart words — the high-frequency irregular words (like the, said, was) that UFLI teaches alongside each lesson’s phonics pattern.

/ă/

cat, bat, hat, mat

/m/

mad, mop, him, gum

/s/

sit, sat, sun, sip

/t/

sat, at, rat, top, tap

vc/cvc

I, sat, at, the, mat

/p/

pig, pot, pit, hop, nap

/f/

fit, fun, fat

/i/

dip, fit, if, in, bit

/n/

nap, pan, pin, fin, tan

CVC Practice (a, i)

sip, tap, fan, tip, map

Nasalized A (an, am)

an, am, man, pan, fan, Pam, tan, ham

/ŏ/

mop, top, pot, hot, not

/d/

dad, dim, dip, dot, din

/k/

cap, cat, cot, cop, can

/ŭ/

cup, cut, fun, sun, mud

/g/

gas, got, gum, gap, gut

/b/

bat, bus, bud, big, bit

/ĕ/

bed, den, fed, get, men

Short Vowel Review

cat, sit, not, cup, bed, mug, bat, big, set

-s /s/

cats, maps, cups, dots, sits

-s /z/

dogs, pans, muds, beds, pigs

/k/

kid, kit, kick, king, kiss

/h/

hat, hen, him, hog, hut

/r/

rat, red, rip, rod, run, rug, rim, ram, rob, rut

/l/

lap, let, lip, log, lug, lid, lot, lit, led, lob

/w/

wag, wet, wig, win, wax

/j/

jab, jet, jig, jog, jug

/y/

yam, yap, yes, yet, yip

/ks/

box, fox, mix, six, wax

/kw/

quit, quiz, quick, quip, quill

/v/

van, vet, vim, vat, vest

/z/

zip, zap, zig, zag, zen

Tip: At this phase, every word on the list is fully decodable with the skills students have been taught. That’s by design — students should be able to sound out every word without guessing. For more on why this matters, see our guide to UFLI’s approach to spelling instruction.

Phase 2: Spelling patterns and digraphs

Words now include two-letter combinations that make a single sound, plus common spelling patterns like the FLSZ rule and ck. Students learn that some sounds have predictable spelling rules based on position in a word.

FLSZ Spelling Rule

miss, kiss, hiss, fuss, buzz, fizz, puff, muff, cuff, bell, fell, well, tell, sell

-all, -oll, -ull

ball, call, fall, hall, mall, tall, wall, doll, poll, roll, toll, bull, full, pull

ck /k/

back, deck, kick, lock, duck, pack, neck, pick, rock, sock, tack, tick, tuck, lick

sh /sh/

ship, shop, shed, shin, shut, fish, dish, wish, gush, rush, hush, mash, rash, cash

th /th/ (voiced)

this, that, them, then, the

th /th/ (unvoiced)

thin, thick, thing, think, thud, math, bath, path, with

ch /ch/

chop, chin, chat, chip, chug, much, such, rich, inch, lunch, bunch, munch

wh /w/, ph /f/

when, whip, whim, which, whiff, Phil, phon

ng /ŋ/

ring, sing, king, wing, song, long, lung, hung, rung, sung, bang, rang, gang

nk /ŋk/

bank, bunk, dunk, honk, ink, junk, link, mink, pink, rank, rink, sank, sink, sunk, tank, wink

Tip: Digraphs are a big conceptual leap — two letters making one sound. If students struggle with spelling digraph words, have them tap out the sounds first. A word like ship has three sounds (/sh/-/i/-/p/) even though it has four letters. Word sorts that contrast digraph and non-digraph words (e.g., shop vs. stop) are especially helpful here.

Phase 3: Silent E / VCe patterns

The silent e changes the vowel from short to long. This is a spelling milestone — students must remember to include a letter they can’t hear.

a_e /ā/

bake, cake, lake, make, came, game, name, cane, lane, tape, cape, date, gate, late, cave, gave, wave

i_e /ī/

bike, hike, like, bite, kite, dime, time, dine, fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, ride, side, wide

o_e /ō/

bone, cone, tone, zone, code, rode, hose, nose, rose, joke, poke, woke, note, vote, hole, mole, pole, home, dome

e_e /ē/

these, theme, Steve, eve, Pete, complete

u_e /ū/, /yū/

cube, tube, cute, mute, huge, rude, dude, dune, tune, fuse, use, fume, flute, brute

_ce /s/

face, lace, pace, race, ice, dice, mice, nice, rice, once, fence, since, dance, prince

_ge /j/

age, cage, page, rage, stage, edge, hedge, wedge, bridge, ridge, huge, large, hinge, plunge

Tip: The contrast between short-vowel and VCe words is especially powerful for spelling practice. Try having students sort pairs like cap/cape, hop/hope, cut/cute into short-vowel and long-vowel columns — a great activity for word sorts.

Phase 4: Inflectional endings and syllable types

Students begin adding endings to base words and learning to break longer words into syllables. This is where spelling starts to involve more than just matching sounds to letters — students need to think about word structure.

-es

boxes, foxes, wishes, dishes, patches, catches, buses, classes, guesses, lunches, benches, ashes

-ed

jumped, kicked, packed, wished, landed, melted, hunted, rested, liked, baked, named, hoped

-ing

jumping, kicking, packing, wishing, landing, melting, hunting, resting, liking, baking, naming, hoping

Syllables

rabbit, basket, kitten, napkin, sunset, muffin, puppet, button, lesson, tennis

Compound Words

sunset, hotdog, bathtub, backpack, eggshell, nutshell, fishpond, sandbox, hilltop, pigpen

Closed/Closed Syllables

rabbit, kitten, mitten, muffin, button, puppet, ribbon, cotton, sudden, lesson

Open and Closed Syllables

robot, music, human, open, frozen, moment, silent, basic, bonus, student

Tip: When students can break a word into syllables, spelling becomes much more manageable. A word like rabbit isn’t seven letters to memorize — it’s two closed syllables (rab + bit), each following patterns they already know.

Phase 5: Advanced ending patterns

These patterns build on the digraphs and VCe patterns students already know, adding complexity with trigraphs (tch, dge), long vowel exceptions, and y as a vowel.

tch /ch/

batch, catch, ditch, fetch, hatch, hitch, hutch, itch, latch, match, notch, patch, pitch, scratch, sketch, snatch, stitch, stretch, switch, watch

dge /j/

badge, bridge, budge, dodge, edge, fridge, fudge, hedge, judge, ledge, lodge, nudge, pledge, ridge, smudge, wedge

Long VCC: -ild, -old, -ind, -olt, -ost

child, mild, wild, bold, cold, fold, gold, hold, mold, old, sold, told, bind, find, grind, kind, mind, wind, bolt, colt, jolt, most, post, host

y /ī/

by, cry, dry, fly, fry, my, pry, shy, sky, sly, spy, try, why

y /ē/

baby, body, bunny, candy, city, copy, dizzy, every, family, funny, happy, jelly, kitty, lucky, messy, penny, plenty, puppy, silly, story, twenty

-le

apple, battle, bottle, bubble, buckle, bundle, candle, castle, giggle, little, maple, middle, needle, paddle, pickle, puddle, puzzle, simple, single, sparkle, table, title, turtle, wiggle

Tip: The tch and dge patterns follow a rule students can learn: after a short vowel in a one-syllable word, use tch (not ch) and dge (not ge). Exceptions exist (much, such, rich), but the rule holds for most words and gives students a reliable spelling strategy.

Phase 6: R-controlled vowels

The r changes the vowel sound that comes before it. These are some of the trickiest patterns to spell because multiple spellings can produce the same sound (especially the /er/ sound).

ar /ar/

bar, car, far, jar, star, tar, scar, bark, dark, mark, park, shark, spark, barn, yarn, arm, charm, farm, harm, cart, dart, part, smart, start, card, hard, yard, arch, march, sharp

or /or/, ore /or/

born, corn, horn, torn, worn, cord, ford, lord, cork, fork, pork, stork, form, storm, fort, port, short, sort, sport, force, horse, north, torch, porch, bore, core, more, ore, score, shore, snore, sore, store, wore

er /er/

her, fern, stern, herd, nerd, term, verb, serve, nerve, swerve, perch, merge, clerk, jerk, perk

ir /er/, ur /er/

sir, stir, bird, third, dirt, shirt, skirt, first, thirst, birth, firm, swirl, twirl, girl, chirp, fur, blur, spur, burn, turn, churn, curb, surf, turf, burst, nurse, purse, curse, curve, church, lurch

Spelling /er/: er, ir, ur, w + or

her, fern, bird, dirt, fur, burn, word, work, worm, world, worth, worse, worship

Tip: The /er/ sound is spelled four different ways (er, ir, ur, and or after w), and there’s no reliable rule for choosing between them. This is where morphemic awareness starts to help — knowing that -er is a suffix (as in teacher) while ir and ur tend to appear within base words.

Phase 7: Vowel teams and diphthongs

Two or more vowels work together to represent one sound. Multiple spellings for the same sound means spelling choices become more complex — students need to learn which spelling is most common in which position.

ai /ā/, ay /ā/

rain, main, pain, gain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, train, stain, braid, maid, paid, raid, snail, tail, trail, mail, nail, pail, rail, sail, wait, bait, bay, day, hay, jay, lay, may, pay, play, pray, ray, say, stay, tray, way, clay, gray, spray

ee /ē/, ea /ē/, ey /ē/

bee, fee, free, knee, see, tree, beef, beep, deep, keep, sleep, steep, sweet, feet, meet, feel, heel, peel, wheel, seed, feed, need, speed, weed, beach, each, peach, reach, teach, bead, read, bean, clean, lean, mean, beam, cream, dream, steam, team, beat, eat, heat, meat, seat, deal, heal, meal, real, seal, cheap, heap, leak, peak, speak, key, monkey, donkey, honey, money, turkey, valley

oa /ō/, ow /ō/, oe /ō/

boat, coat, float, goat, moat, oat, coal, foam, roam, groan, loan, moan, load, road, toad, oak, soak, soap, boast, coast, roast, toast, blow, bow, crow, flow, glow, grow, know, low, mow, row, show, slow, snow, throw, own, grown, known, shown, doe, foe, hoe, Joe, toe, woe

ie /ī/, igh /ī/

die, lie, pie, tie, cried, dried, fried, tried, flies, fries, ties, high, sigh, thigh, bright, fight, flight, knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight

u /oo/, oo /oo/

book, cook, hook, look, nook, took, shook, brook, crook, foot, good, hood, stood, wood, wool, pull, full, bull, push, bush, put

oo /ū/

moon, soon, noon, spoon, bloom, broom, gloom, room, zoom, boot, hoot, root, shoot, cool, drool, fool, pool, school, stool, tool, food, mood, proof, roof, tooth, smooth, goose, loose, moose, choose

ew /ū/, ui /ū/, ue /ū/

dew, few, grew, knew, blew, brew, chew, drew, flew, new, stew, threw, fruit, cruise, bruise, juice, suit, blue, clue, due, glue, sue, true, argue, rescue, statue, value

au /aw/, aw /aw/, augh /aw/

haul, maul, fault, vault, sauce, cause, pause, launch, caught, taught, August, author, auto, jaw, claw, draw, flaw, gnaw, law, paw, raw, saw, straw, thaw, crawl, dawn, drawn, fawn, lawn, yawn, hawk, daughter, naughty, slaughter

ea /ĕ/, a /ŏ/

bread, dead, head, lead, read, spread, thread, breath, death, deaf, health, wealth, sweat, sweater, weather, feather, leather, measure, treasure, pleasure, want, wash, watch, wasp, wand, swap, swamp, squat, squad, squash

oi /oi/, oy /oi/

oil, boil, coil, foil, soil, toil, broil, spoil, coin, join, point, joint, moist, hoist, noise, voice, choice, boy, coy, joy, toy, ploy, annoy, enjoy, employ, royal, loyal

ou /ow/, ow /ow/

out, about, cloud, loud, proud, shout, spout, trout, couch, grouch, ouch, pouch, count, mount, found, ground, hound, mound, pound, round, sound, bounce, ounce, house, mouse, mouth, south, our, flour, hour, sour, cow, bow, how, now, plow, vow, wow, brown, clown, crown, down, drown, frown, gown, town, crowd, growl, howl, owl, prowl, power, flower, tower, shower

Tip: A useful generalization for vowel teams: ai and oa tend to appear in the middle of words or syllables, while ay, oy, and ow (for /ō/) tend to appear at the end. This “position” rule won’t cover every word, but it gives students a strong starting point for choosing the right spelling.

Phase 8: Silent letters and unusual consonant patterns

Students encounter letters that are written but not pronounced, and consonant combinations with unexpected sounds.

kn /n/, wr /r/, mb /m/

knack, knead, knee, kneel, knew, knife, knight, knit, knob, knock, knot, know, knuckle, wrap, wreath, wreck, wren, wrestle, wring, wrinkle, wrist, write, wrong, wrote, climb, comb, crumb, dumb, lamb, limb, numb, plumb, thumb, tomb

Tip: Silent letters can feel arbitrary to students, but they often have historical origins — knight and knee used to be pronounced with the /k/ sound in Old English. While that history won’t help students on a spelling test, knowing that these patterns are consistent (every kn- word has a silent k) makes them learnable through practice and exposure.

Phase 9: Suffixes and prefixes

Students learn to add meaningful word parts that change a word’s meaning or function. Spelling at this phase requires understanding word structure, not just sounds.

Suffixes: -s/-es

cats, dogs, boxes, wishes, dishes, patches, catches, buses, classes, guesses, lunches, benches, foxes, mixes, brushes, crashes, churches, speeches

-er, -est

taller, tallest, faster, fastest, shorter, shortest, bigger, biggest, hotter, hottest, sadder, saddest, nicer, nicest, wider, widest, braver, bravest, later, latest

-ly

sadly, gladly, softly, quickly, slowly, kindly, badly, loudly, nicely, bravely, wisely, closely, safely, lonely, lovely, simply, gently, proudly

-less, -ful

careful, cheerful, colorful, graceful, hopeful, joyful, painful, peaceful, playful, powerful, thankful, wonderful, careless, endless, fearless, harmless, helpless, homeless, hopeless, restless, sleepless, useless, worthless

Prefixes: un-

undo, unkind, unpack, untie, unwrap, unhappy, unlock, unfair, unsafe, unwell, unlike, unload, unable, unclear, uncover, undone

pre-, re-

redo, recount, refill, reheat, remake, reopen, repaint, replay, reread, retell, rewind, rewrite, preview, prepay, preschool, preheat, pretest, prewash

dis-

dislike, disagree, disappear, discover, disconnect, discount, discuss, disgust, dismiss, display, distrust, disable, discolor, discomfort, dishonest

Tip: Once students understand prefixes and suffixes, they can spell hundreds of words they’ve never practiced by combining known base words with known affixes. Encourage students to identify the base word first, then add the prefix or suffix. This approach to morphemic spelling becomes increasingly important from here on.

Phase 10: Spelling rules for adding suffixes

Adding a suffix isn’t always as simple as sticking it on the end. Students learn three key rules that govern what happens to the base word when a suffix is added.

Doubling Rule: -ed, -ing

stopped, hopped, hopping, skipped, skipping, clapped, clapping, dropped, dropping, grabbed, grabbing, planned, planning, shipped, shipping, slipped, slipping, snapped, snapping, stepped, stepping, trapped, trapping, trimmed, trimming, wrapped, wrapping

Doubling Rule: -er, -est

bigger, biggest, hotter, hottest, sadder, saddest, thinner, thinnest, fatter, fattest, flatter, flattest, madder, maddest, wetter, wettest, redder, reddest, runner, winner, spinner, swimmer, drummer, beginner

Drop E Rule

baking, baked, hiking, hiked, hoping, hoped, making, named, naming, riding, smiled, smiling, traded, trading, waving, waved, biking, biked, caving, caved, dining, dined, driving, glazed, glazing, shining, shined, skating, skated

Y to I Rule

babies, candies, cities, copies, families, ladies, parties, pennies, puppies, stories, studied, carried, hurried, married, worried, tried, dried, fried, cried, happier, happiest, prettier, prettiest, earlier, earliest, busier, busiest, easier, easiest

Tip: These three rules (double, drop e, change y to i) account for the majority of suffix-spelling confusion. When students misspell a word like hopping as hoping, it’s a sign they need more practice distinguishing when each rule applies. Sorting words by which rule they follow is an effective practice activity.

Phase 11: Advanced vowel and consonant patterns

These patterns include less common spellings, alternate pronunciations, and words borrowed from other languages. Students draw on everything they’ve learned to navigate spelling that doesn’t always follow the “rules.”

ar /er/, or /er/

dollar, collar, pillar, cellar, grammar, sugar, calendar, popular, regular, similar, familiar, doctor, actor, mirror, scissors, tractor, sailor, harbor, color, favor, flavor, honor, humor, labor, major, minor, motor, neighbor, vapor

air /air/, are /air/, ear /air/

air, chair, fair, hair, pair, stair, flair, bare, care, dare, fare, glare, hare, mare, rare, share, spare, square, stare, wear, bear, pear, swear, tear

ear /ear/

dear, ear, fear, gear, hear, near, clear, rear, spear, year, cheer, deer, peer, steer, appear, disappear

ei /ā/, eigh /ā/, ey /ā/, ea /ā/, aigh /ā/

vein, rein, reindeer, reign, eight, weigh, weight, neighbor, sleigh, freight, they, grey, hey, prey, obey, survey, convey, break, great, steak, straight

ew /yū/, eu /yū/, ue /yū/, ou /ū/

few, dew, new, knew, stew, feud, deuce, neutral, you, your, youth, group, soup, through, wound, route, cougar

ough /aw/, ough /ō/

bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought, wrought, cough, trough, though, although, dough, thorough, through, tough, rough, enough

Signal Vowels: c /s/, g /j/

cell, cent, center, circle, city, cycle, ace, ice, rice, peace, place, prince, sauce, gem, gene, gentle, germ, giant, ginger, giraffe, gym, age, cage, huge, large, stage, change, strange, hinge, plunge, sponge

ch /sh/, ch /k/, gn /n/, gh /g/, silent t

chef, chute, machine, brochure, mustache, parachute, chorus, chrome, school, stomach, echo, anchor, ache, character, chemistry, gnarly, gnarl, gnash, gnat, gnaw, gnome, gnu, sign, design, ghost, ghast, ghoul, spaghetti, castle, listen, fasten, whistle, hustle, bustle, wrestle, thistle, bristle, moisten, glisten, often, soften

Tip: At this stage, students benefit from understanding that English borrows words from many languages, and each source language brought its own spelling patterns. Words with ch pronounced as /sh/ (like chef) come from French; ch as /k/ (like chorus) comes from Greek. This kind of word history, when shared in small doses, can turn confusing exceptions into memorable stories.

Loading these word lists into Spelling Test Buddy

Rather than typing these words in yourself, you can find UFLI-aligned word lists ready to go in Spelling Test Buddy:

1. Sign up for a free trial at spellingtestbuddy.com
2. Create a new word list and choose Advanced Options > “Populate your Word List by using one of our pre-made word lists 📓”
3. Choose the “UFLI-aligned” category of your choice, then choose the specific list you wish to use to populate your word list
4. Assign practice, games, and the test to your students — they hear each word read aloud and type their spelling
5. Review results to see which patterns students have mastered and which need more practice

You can also generate worksheets including Roll and Read and sorts directly from your word lists.

Want to learn more about the UFLI program? Read our complete guide to UFLI and spelling instruction, or explore the UFLI scope and sequence to understand the full lesson progression.