The "u_e" sound — /ju/
As in cube. Tap play to hear the sound, see the mouth shape, and hear 15 example words.
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Grapheme — the letters
u_e
What a child sees written down and writes by hand.
Phoneme — the sound
/ju/
What a child hears and says out loud — written in IPA, the standard notation for sounds (not letter names).
Mouth shape
Start like 'y', then round the lips into 'oo'
Gesture
Point to a friend and say yoo — like the word 'you'
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.
None yet — at this point too few sounds are known to build a real word. Use the listening words below.
Words to listen for the sound
You say these, your child listens for /ju/. They use letters or spellings not taught yet, so they’re not for reading.
- cute
- cube
- mule
- use
- fuse
- huge
- mute
- fume
- muse
- amuse
- excuse
- refuse
- confuse
- perfume
- cubes
Teach the “u_e” sound: free printables
Two free PDFs made for this sound. Print them, or use the full lesson online with audio and games.
“u_e” practice sheetFor your child: trace, find the sound in pictures, read and match. Name & date on top. Download PDF
“u_e” lesson planFor you: a 10-minute lesson with what to say, the answer key and common mix-ups. Download PDFHow to teach the “u_e” 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 /ju/.
- Do the gesture. Point to a friend and say yoo — like the word 'you'— 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 /ju/ sound: “c–u–t–e”.
- Spot it around the house. “Can you find something that starts with /ju/?” 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