CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant— a 3-letter word with one consonant sound, one short vowel sound, and one more consonant sound, like “cat,” “sit,” and “tap.” Every letter is sounded out — no silent letters, no vowel teams — which makes CVC words the simplest fully decodable words in English and the first ones most kids read. This page lists 200+ CVC words sorted by vowel so you can drill one vowel at a time.
CVC words are the core of Stage 3 — see the blending & segmenting stage in the phonics roadmap for how blending and segmenting build on this list.
Short A — 50 CVC words
Tip:start short A first. It’s the most common vowel in CVC words and the easiest to model (open mouth, “ahh”).
Short E — 30 CVC words
Tip: teach short E after short A. Many kids confuse them — drill side by side: bed/bad, pen/pan, ten/tan.
Short I — 50 CVC words
Short O — 35 CVC words
Short U — 40 CVC words
How to drill the list
- One vowel at a time.Don’t mix vowels until each is solid. Start with A, master it, then E, then I.
- Group by ending pattern.Read “cat, hat, mat, rat” in a row. Rime families build pattern recognition.
- Hide-the-vowel.Cover the vowel with your finger. “c_t” could be cat, cot, cut. Have your kid swap vowels and read each.
- Build, then read. Use letter cards or magnetic letters. Build the word, blend the sounds, read it aloud.
- 2-minute time trial.Once a vowel is solid, how many CVC words can your kid read in 2 minutes? Track the number; aim to beat last week’s record.
5 fully-decodable CVC sentences
Reading a CVC word in isolation is one skill; reading it inside a sentence is another. Each sentence below uses only words from the lists above, plus the sight words “the,” “a,” and “is” (not CVC themselves, but common enough to teach by sight from the first week):
- The fat cat sat.
- Dad has a red hen.
- The pig has a wig.
- The dog can hop.
- The sun is hot.
What comes after CVC
- CCVC: 4-letter words with a consonant cluster at the start. flag, stop, plan, drum, frog.
- CVCC: consonant cluster at the end. fast, hand, lamp, jump, pink.
- CVCe (magic-e): silent E makes the vowel long. cake, bike, bone, cute.
- Digraphs: 2 letters, 1 sound. chip, shop, that, ring.
Free printable CVC list
Grab the full CVC PDF (200+ words, sorted by vowel). Print it, cut by vowel, and turn each strip into a reading domino. Don’t lose your kid in the long-vowel jungle until short vowels are bulletproof.
CVC write & read worksheets
Want your kid to write each word too, not just read it? These worksheets use the exact same words as the list above, but leave a blank line under every word.
Download all 5 worksheets (159 words, Free PDF) — read each word out loud, then write it on the line. No email required.