CVC Words List – A Helpful Freebie for Beginning Readers!

Today I'm sharing another free resource that makes teaching reading in kindergarten simpler and successful: a CVC Words List! This FREE CVC word list can be copies and pasted or if you're looking for the free printable version, scroll down to the end.

CVC Words are a huge part of kindergarten standards. In my classroom I use a ton of hands-on games to promote reading CVC words. I'm known for using unusually fun supplies and strangely silly strategies, so if your little one needs a little more encouragement, check out the following pages all about teaching CVC words:

• CVC muffin pan games
• CVC stacking cups downloads
• SWAT that CVC Word
• The AT family freebies
• The AN family freebies
• The big list of CVC word games

If you're new to teaching little ones to read, you might be wondering...

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What Are CVC Words?

CVC stands for Consonant-Vowel-Consonant. These are simple, three-letter words like cat, bed, or hug. They follow a predictable pattern, which makes them perfect for emerging readers. CVC words use short vowel sounds, and every sound in the word can be heard clearly. This makes decoding (sounding out) much easier!

Why is having a CVC Words List Helpful?

CVC Words are the building blocks for learning how to read, but we often use the same ones over and over again. I hope providing a free and easily printable CVC words list will make it easier for you and your kindergarten reader to practice reading with more and more words.

• quick and easy access to the words kids need to practice
• provides more diverse words to use
• helps kids recognize patterns in words (all "a" vowels or all end with "b" sound)
• organizes words into word families

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A Special Note About This List

As a kindergarten teacher, I always make sure that my CVC words are easy to sound out and consistent in pronunciation.

You’ll notice:

• The words are grouped by medial vowel sound (that’s the vowel in the middle of the word). Kids usually learn the vowels in this order: A, I, O, E, U
• None of the words end in L or R, because those letters can change how the vowel sounds are pronounced (for example, car doesn’t have a true short A sound—tricky, right?).

So let’s dive into our carefully curated CVC Words List!

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✏️ CVC Words with Short A

/a/ as in "cat"

• ab family: cab, dab, fab, gab, lab, nab, tab
• ad family: bad, dad, fad, had, lad, mad, pad, rad, sad, tad
• at family: cat, bat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, tat, vat
• an family: ban, can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van
• am family: bam, ham, jam, Pam, ram, Sam, yam
• ap family: cap, gap, lap, map, nap, rap, sap, tap, zap

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✏️ CVC Words with Short E

/e/ as in "bed"

• eb family: Deb, web
• ed family: red, bed, fed, led, med, Ned, red, Ted, wed
• eg family: beg, keg, leg, Meg, peg
• et family: bet, get, jet, let, met, net, pet, set, vet, wet, yet

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✏️ CVC Words with Short I

/i/ as in "sit"

• id family: bid, did, hid, lid, rid, Sid
• im family: dim, him, Jim, Kim, rim, Tim
• ip family: dip, hip, lip, pip, rip, sip, tip, zip
• in family: bin, fin, kin, pin, sin, tin, win
• it family: bit, fit, hit, kit, lit, pit, sit

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✏️ CVC Words with Short O

/o/ as in "hot"

• ob family: Bob, cob, job, lob, mob, rob, sob
• op family: hop, mop, pop, top
• ot family: bot, cot, dot, got, hot, jot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot

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✏️ CVC Words with Short U

/u/ as in "sun"

• ud family: bud, cud, dud, mud
• ug family: bug, dug, hug, jug, mug, pug, rug, tug,
• ut family: but, cut, gut, hut, jut, nut, rut
• un family: bun, fun, run, sun

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Tips for Using This CVC Words List

🧺 Use this list for:

• Word family games
• Phonemic awareness skills like blending and segmenting
• Sound sorting activities
• Simple decoding and encoding practice

Note the reader: There are some words that are not included in the list like knot, mutt, dish, chop that are not technically CVC words but still have three sounds-beginning, middle, and end. These can still be good words to talk about when practicing blending and segmenting words. I chose to leave them out because they included either unusual spellings or digraphs- sh, wh, ch, ph, or th.

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Download your free printable CVC Words List by clicking the photo below- the watermark will go away!

Download your CVC List Now!

CVC words are the stepping stones to reading success. With this organized list of CVC words, you’re helping your kindergartner build a strong foundation in phonics and reading fluency.