L-Blends Worksheets (6 Free Printables!)

Get six free worksheets to help children gain command of consonant blends that include the letter L. Included are targeted words with these beginning L-blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, and sl.

What are Blends?

Consonant blends (sometimes called consonant clusters) are two or more consonants next to each other, with each consonant sound clearly heard but said quickly.

There are many beginning blends that can be heard in English, and it’s recommended to teach them in groups based on specific features rather than individually.

Teaching blends in similar groups can also eliminate getting stuck in what some educators call “blend hell.”

This is what’s referred to when you get stuck spending too long teaching blends (because there are so many) and not moving on to the next phonics concept. And no one wants that!

So here we’ve grouped the blends bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, and sl together. Students should notice that these all have something in common – the letter L! That’s why these are called L-blends.

L-Blends Words

So here we’re focusing all on l-blends. The letter “L” is the second letter in the consonant blend. L-blends include these letter combinations: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl.

👉 Examples of Words with L-Blends

bl	cl	fl	gl	pl	sl
blank	clap	flag	glad	plum	slide
blue	clip	flop	Glen	plug	slip
blood	clank	flat	glam	play	slack
block	clash	fly	glee	plane	sleep
black	class	flower	glitter	planet	slope

📝 Using the Worksheets

Blends are usually taught after students have mastered letters A-Z, short vowels, and digraphs, so we specifically chose words that kids are able to decode using the phonics skills they’ve been taught.

All words that need to be read or spelled are one syllable and include only short vowels, consonants, and consonant digraphs.

Below are descriptions of the worksheets provided, along with helpful information about each one.

✏ Write The L-Blend

Students look at the picture and write the blend they hear at the beginning of the word, choosing from bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl.

The rime (word family) is already written out for the child. They can then read the word together in chunks.

Words include:

pl+ug	cl+ap
fl+ag	gl+ad
bl+ast	gl+ob
cl+ip	pl+ant
sl+ip	sl+ug
fl+ash	cl+am

📚 Read the L-Blend

With 30 words organized by beginning blend, students highlight the blends in the word, then practice reading them.

Again, these words only include blends, short vowels, consonants and digraphs. This is great for targeted practice and helps build fluency!

Words include:

blink black blob bled block	lub clip clap clam click	flop flat flag flip flock
gloss glim glass glad glop	plus plug plan plot pluck	slam slack sled slit slip

🔨 Build-A-Word (2 Worksheets)

These worksheets allow students to practice reading and writing words that begin with the same beginning blend.

Students begin to notice connections between words with similar features. The worksheets are intentionally designed so children recognize how words look AND sound alike.

The first worksheet includes words with blends bl, fl & gl the second worksheet includes words with blends cl, pl, sl. Altogether, these give kids practice building over 18 words with beginning l-blends.

The words include:

• bl+ush = blush
• bl+og = blog
• bl+ab =blab
• fl+ap = flap
• fl+ush =flush
• fl+ick = flick
• gl+ad = glad
• gl+ob = glob
• gl+ass = glass
• cl+ub = club
• cl+og = clog
• cl+ick = click
• sl+ob = slob
• sl+ack = slack
• sl+ab = slab

✂ Word Sorts (2 Worksheets)

Kids will cut, paste, and sort pictures based on the blends they hear in the words.

Make sure you review the pictures before asking the students to complete these worksheets. This will help ensure they can be successful in the sort.

Cl and Pl Sort:

• cl: cloud, class, clip, clock, cliff, climb
• pl: plane, plum, plug, plate, play, planet

Gl and Sl Sort:

• gl: glue, glove, gladiator, globe, glass, glide
• sl: sleep, sleeve, slime, sled, slam, slide

👉 Note: You may have noticed that the words included on the picture sort worksheets include other phonics features that kids may not know yet (long vowels, vowel teams, multisyllabic words, etc.).

And that’s totally okay and appropriate because kids are only listening for the sounds, not reading the words!

❤ Why We Love It

These worksheets make targeting phonics practice engaging. You can choose which worksheets to use with your kids… choose 1 or choose all 6.

We also love that the worksheets are 100% appropriate for kids who are learning blends. We only want to expose our students to words that they have the skills to read (no guessing) and that’s how we designed these worksheets!

Related Posts

• BL & BR Blends Worksheets
• Digraphs Sentences Practice
• R Blends Worksheets

Download & Print

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