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80+ CVC Words with Pictures & Printable Worksheets

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This free printable cvc word list with pictures and 7 word matching worksheets help early readers practice important skills: Decoding and reading simple three letter words using memorized letter sounds and visual cues.

Graphic with 8 worksheets showing CVC words and pictures on a black chalkboard background.
Download all 7 worksheets FREE at the bottom of this post!

Why We Love It

This is the ultimate list of 80+ CVC words with pictures, organized into word families by middle letter short vowel sound!

We put together eight pages in this pdf in total: One printable page as a master list of the most common CVC words with pictures AND seven printable pages of picture and word matching worksheets. Get the pdfs below (We also have free printable CVC flashcards for more practice!).

✍️ What’s a CVC Word?

CVC stands for Consonant Vowel Consonant, so a CVC word is a three letter word that follows this pattern.

The word ‘cat’ is a great example of a CVC word. When you spell the word cat, first comes a consonant (c), then a short vowel (a), then another consonant (t).

With CVC words, the focus is solely on decoding letter sounds. And CVC words are perfect words for early readers because they can be decoded very easily.

That’s why CVC words are often used to teach closed syllables, too!

All 8 cvc word worksheets laid out on a white table with a pencil.

📚 Why are CVC words important?

CVC words are essential because they allow children to move from phonemic awareness (the first building block of reading) on to phonics (the second building block of reading).

Children benefit from have ample opportunities to use their decoding skills on simple words as they learn to read.

As soon as children know just a few letters and vowels, reading CVC words should begin. This typically happens within the first few months of kindergarten, but it should be practiced throughout kindergarten and the beginning of first grade.

Children begin to understand that letters are not isolated sounds, but instead are put together to build words. There is nothing like watching a child begin to practice this skill and find such satisfaction in their achievement as they make sense of letters and sounds and decode words on their own!

The printable list of CVC words and pictures printed large as a poster.

Children practice blending three letter sounds together in a simple way, without having to remember digraphs or recall irregular sight words. As children read CVC words, it helps solidify their recall for consonant and short vowel sounds.

We put together a list of CVC words with pictures for practice and dictating words to students, plus a CVC matching game. Together, these worksheets help children learn and practice CVC words.

🏫 Educational Focus

Age Group: The cvc word list and worksheets are great for KindergartenFirst Grade!

These worksheets can easily be used for independent or small group work. And because kids will be cutting and gluing, they help to build fine motor skills too!

📝 Using The Worksheets

A hand holding the printed list of 80+ cvc words with pictures.

CVC Word List with Pictures

This is a comprehensive printable list of the most common c v c words, separated into word families by the short vowel sound. This page was designed with two purposes in mind, one for students and one for teachers!

  1. Children can use the word list to practice, using the picture beside each word as a helpful hint.
  2. Teachers can use this page for dictation!
  3. You can also enlarge it during printing to make a colorful anchor chart!
The letter a picture match worksheet with the pictures cut out and a glue stick.

CVC Words and Pictures Matching (7 pages)

The first five printable worksheets are separated by short vowel sound. This way, once you introduce a particular vowel to your child, you can use that worksheet to firm up the vowel sound and practice the skill of blending.

Examples:

  • /a/ cvc words: cat, fan, ham, sad.
  • /e/ cvc words: jet, ten, pen, fed.
  • /i/ cvc words: bin, sit, wig, pit.
  • /o/ cvc words: mom, cop, hog, bot.
  • /u/ cvc words: cup, bun, bug, cut.

👉 Please note: Short /e/ and short /i/ are usually the most difficult for kids to hear, so you may want to spend some extra time on these sounds. You may want to use word-picture association cards or keywords for these tricky sounds (a – apple, e – egg, i – igloo, o – octopus, u – umbrella.)

Once all short vowels have been introduced, then use the 2 Mixed Vowel Worksheets so students can practice differentiating between short vowel sounds in CVC words. Students will match the pictures to the words AND write in the missing middle vowel!

More CVC Resources

A child's hand mapping the word "wet" using sound boxes.

For CVC words orthographic mapping practice, get our printable Sound Boxes (Elkonin Boxes!)

Graphic for Pinterest with 8 pages and the text, "CVC Words and Pictures, plus 7 picture matching worksheets. Free Printables!"

Download & Print

We’d love to hear about your experience using these printables! Drop a comment below and we’ll get back to you asap!

CVC Words List with Pictures

CVC Words List with Pictures

3.01 MB 27064 Downloads

DOWNLOAD TERMS: All of our resources and printables are designed for personal use only in homes and classrooms. Each teacher must download his or her own copy. You may not: Save our files to a shared drive, reproduce our resources on the web, or make photocopies for anyone besides your own students. To share with others, please use the social share links provided or distribute the link to the blog post so others can download their own copies. Your support in this allows us to keep making free resources for everyone! Please see our Creative Credits page for information about the licensed clipart we use. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our terms, please email us. Thank you!

42 Comments

    1. Hi Pam,
      Unfortunately there is no pattern to explain the w vs wh spellings. In most dialects today, the /w/ and /wh/ sound exactly alike. However, in the past the wh grapheme represented the /hw/ sound. Most do not use this sound anymore – but the spelling sticks. I teach my students many of the question words have the ‘wh’ pattern, and the other words we just have to memorize. Hope this helps.
      Katie and Laura

  1. This freebie is something not only useful but is exactly what I was looking for last year and now that it exists I give you my gratitude.

    1. Hi Ola, Thank you so much for your kind words and feedback. We’re thrilled to hear this resource is helpful for you as you teach! 🙂 -Katie & Laura

  2. This is an amazing article.
    Phonics is such an overwhelming topic and as a parent, I often used to think when the time would come where to start it from.
    Thanks to your article. Now I know where should I start from.

    Thanks!

  3. Hi Ms. Tina, Good day !

    Can I have this complete set CVC Words Pictures Matching (5 pages): Short a, e, i, o, u? thank you so much and God bless 🙏

    1. Hi Lyn,
      Of course you can! Just scroll to the bottom of the post and hit the “Download and Print” button. You can access all the free printables there.
      Blessings,
      Katie and Laura

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