Vowel Teams and Bossy R: Word Lists by Sound

In short

A vowel team is two or more letters that spell one vowel sound, like ai in rain. Bossy r is an r that changes the vowel before it, like ar in car. Zupzi Read's program teaches 43 of these spellings in 25 lessons across Level 7: Vowel Teams and Level 10: Rare Spellings, mostly grouped by the sound they share.

25 lessons
Level 7: Vowel Teams and Level 10: Rare Spellings
43 spellings

This page describes Zupzi Read's program: the order the app teaches in, lesson by lesson. Zupzi Read is coming soon to the App Store, and it goes there only with the whole program, ages 3 to 8.

Grouped by sound

Most lessons put together the spellings of one sound: ai and ay (rain, day); er, then ir and ur, which share one sound (her, bird, fur). Some teams have two sounds and get two lessons: oo in moon and in book. Level 7 opens with bossy r (its review lesson is titled “Bossy r review”), then the vowel teams; Level 10 adds rarer ones, like eigh, ough and air.

The spellings, grouped by sound

Each row is one sound and the spellings the program teaches for it, with example words from its word lists (the spelling in bold).

Sound	Spellings	Example words	Lessons
as in car	ar	car, far, jar	Level 7, lesson 1
as in fork	or ore ar	chorus, orchid, war, warm, warn	Level 7, lesson 2, Level 7, lesson 5
as in her	er ir ur or ar	her, fern, herd, bird, girl, dirt	Level 7, lesson 3, Level 7, lesson 4, Level 7, lesson 5, Level 10, lesson 1
as in cake	ai ay ei eigh ey ea aigh	rain, tail, wait, day, play, say	Level 7, lesson 7, Level 10, lesson 4, Level 10, lesson 5
as in these	ee ea ey	feet, green, sleep, eat, sea, team	Level 7, lesson 8, Level 7, lesson 9
as in bone	oa ow oe	boat, coat, road, snow, grow, show	Level 7, lesson 10
as in kite	ie igh	high, night, light	Level 7, lesson 11
as in moon	oo ew ui ue ou	moon, food, room, new, few, grew	Level 7, lesson 12, Level 7, lesson 14, Level 10, lesson 7
as in book	oo	book, look, good	Level 7, lesson 13
as in saw	au aw augh	haul, fault, launch, saw, draw, lawn	Level 7, lesson 15
as in egg	ea	bread, head, dead	Level 7, lesson 16
as in hair	air are ear	hair, pair, chair, care, share, scare	Level 10, lesson 2
as in ear	ear eer	near, dear, fear, deer, cheer, steer	Level 10, lesson 3
as in cute	eu	feud	Level 10, lesson 6
as in up	ou	young, touch, cousin	Level 10, lesson 7
as in though	ough	though, dough, through	Level 10, lesson 8

Where it sits in the path: 25 lessons

In the order the app teaches them, with the new spellings, a few of the lesson words and the heart words.

Level 7: Vowel Teams17 lessons here, of 18

1
arNew: ar as in car · Words: car, far, jar, star, farm, park, card, dark
2
or, oreNew: or as in fork, ore as in fork · Words: for, fork, corn, horn, storm, short, more, store
3
erNew: er as in her · Words: her, fern, herd, perch, verb, term, letter, summer · Heart words: mother, other, brother, learn, heard
4
ir, urNew: ir as in her, ur as in her · Words: bird, girl, dirt, first, shirt, fur, hurt, turn
5
or and ar after wNew: or after w says /er/, ar after w says /or/ · Words: work, word, worm, world, worth, war, warm, warn
6
Bossy r reviewWords: car, fork, her, bird, turn, work, warm, star
7
ai, ayNew: ai as in cake, ay as in cake · Words: rain, tail, wait, paint, train, day, play, say
8
ee, eaNew: ee as in these, ea as in these · Words: see, tree, feet, green, sleep, eat, sea, team
9
ey says /ē/New: ey as in these · Words: key, donkey, turkey, valley, chimney, hockey, kidney, alley
10
oa, ow, oeNew: oa as in bone, ow as in bone, oe as in bone · Words: boat, coat, road, soap, toast, snow, grow, show
11
ie, ighNew: ie as in kite, igh as in kite · Words: pie, tie, lie, high, night, light, right, bright
12
oo as in moonNew: oo as in moon · Words: moon, food, room, zoo, boot, cool, spoon, tooth
13
oo as in book, u as in putNew: oo as in book, u as in put · Words: book, look, good, foot, cook, wood, hook, put
14
ew, ui, ueNew: ew as in moon, ui as in moon, ue as in moon · Words: new, few, grew, chew, fruit, juice, suit, blue
15
au, aw, aughNew: au as in saw, aw as in saw, augh as in saw · Words: haul, fault, launch, sauce, saw, draw, lawn, yawn · Heart words: because
16
ea says /ĕ/New: ea as in bread · Words: bread, head, dead, thread, spread, sweat, ready, heavy
18
Vowel team reviewWords: rain, tree, boat, night, moon, book, new, saw

Level 10: Rare Spellings8 lessons here, of 18

1
ar and or say /er/New: ar at the end says /er/, or at the end says /er/ · Words: dollar, collar, lizard, wizard, doctor, actor, color, mirror
2
air, are, ear as in bearNew: air as in hair, are as in hair, ear as in bear · Words: hair, pair, chair, fair, stair, care, share, scare
3
ear, eerNew: ear as in ear, eer as in ear · Words: ear, hear, near, dear, fear, deer, cheer, steer
4
ei, eigh, ey say /ā/New: ei as in cake, eigh as in cake, ey as in cake · Words: vein, veil, rein, eight, weigh, neigh, sleigh, they
5
ea says /ā/, aighNew: ea as in great, aigh as in cake · Words: great, break, steak, straight
6
ew, eu, ue say /ū/New: eu as in cute · Words: few, feud, cue, hue, rescue, argue, value, avenue
7
ou says /oo/ and /ŭ/New: ou as in soup, ou as in young · Words: soup, group, you, youth, young, touch, cousin, double
8
oughNew: ough as in though · Words: though, dough, through, tough, rough, enough, thought, bought

Questions about vowel teams and bossy r

What is a vowel team?

Two or more letters that spell one vowel sound together, like ai in rain, ee in feet, oa in boat or igh in high.

What is a bossy r?

An r right after a vowel, which changes the vowel's sound: the a in car doesn't sound like the a in cat. These are also called r-controlled vowels.

Why are ai and ay taught together?

They spell the same sound: rain and day. Zupzi Read's program groups the spellings of one sound in the same lesson.

More of the path

Phonics, step by step:

By age and grade:

Or jump to a level of the scope and sequence:

Vowel teams and bossy r

Grouped by sound

The spellings, grouped by sound

Where it sits in the path: 25 lessons

Level 7: Vowel Teams17 lessons here, of 18

Level 10: Rare Spellings8 lessons here, of 18

Questions about vowel teams and bossy r

More of the path

One sound at a time.
One book at a time.

Vowel teams and bossy r

Grouped by sound

The spellings, grouped by sound

Where it sits in the path: 25 lessons

Level 7: Vowel Teams17 lessons here, of 18

Level 10: Rare Spellings8 lessons here, of 18

Questions about vowel teams and bossy r

More of the path

One sound at a time. One book at a time.

One sound at a time.
One book at a time.