The "oo" sound — /ʊ/
As in book. Tap play to hear the sound, see the mouth shape, and hear 15 example words.
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Grapheme — the letters
oo
What a child sees written down and writes by hand.
Phoneme — the sound
/ʊ/
What a child hears and says out loud — written in IPA, the standard notation for sounds (not letter names).
Mouth shape
Lips loosely rounded, short sound
Gesture
Open a book and say oo-oo-oo (short)
Words to read now
Every letter in these has been taught by this point in the teaching order, so your child can sound them out.
- book
- look
- cook
- good
- wood
- foot
- hook
- took
- hood
- wool
- stood
- shook
- brook
- crook
- nook
Teach the “oo” sound: free printables
Two free PDFs made for this sound. Print them, or use the full lesson online with audio and games.
“oo” practice sheetFor your child: trace, find the sound in pictures, read and match. Name & date on top. Download PDF
“oo” lesson planFor you: a 10-minute lesson with what to say, the answer key and common mix-ups. Download PDFCompare: /ʊ/ vs /u/
Same letters, two sounds — long and tight in "moon", short and relaxed in "book".
Learn the “oo” sound →How to teach the “oo” sound
- Hear it first. Tap Play three times. Have your child watch your mouth while you copy the sound — no letter name yet, just the pure phoneme /ʊ/.
- Do the gesture. Open a book and say oo-oo-oo (short)— kids remember sounds 2× faster when there’s a physical action attached.
- Find it in words. Say a few example words aloud slowly, stretching the /ʊ/ sound: “b–o–o–k”.
- Spot it around the house. “Can you find something that starts with /ʊ/?” Aim for 3 wins in a row before stopping.
Related sounds in this unit
Turn this into a dated schedule
Pick a start date and a pace, and get all 44 sounds laid out as dated sessions — free to preview, downloadable as a calendar.
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ABC Phonics — Sounds for Kids