Free printable · CVC words

Short a CVC words

CVC words are three-letter words made of a consonant, a vowel and a consonant, like cat, map and bag. They are usually the first words children learn to sound out, because every letter makes its most common sound.

This page has 43 short a CVC words in 7 word families. Short a is the sound in the middle of "cat", and it is the vowel most phonics programs start with.

-at words

  • bat
  • cat
  • hat
  • mat
  • pat
  • rat
  • sat
  • vat

-an words

  • can
  • fan
  • man
  • pan
  • ran
  • tan
  • van

-ap words

  • cap
  • gap
  • lap
  • map
  • nap
  • rap
  • sap
  • tap
  • yap

-ad words

  • bad
  • dad
  • had
  • lad
  • mad
  • pad
  • sad

-ag words

  • bag
  • rag
  • tag
  • wag

-am words

  • ham
  • jam
  • ram
  • yam

-ab words

  • cab
  • dab
  • lab
  • tab

How to use this list

  1. Start with one family (the -at words are a good first column) and read down it before moving to the next.
  2. Keep sessions short: a few minutes a day beats one long session a week.
  3. Ask your child to say each sound and then blend them into the word. If they guess from the first letter, cover the word and go sound by sound again.
  4. Print the flashcards, mix them up, and read them out of order once the list feels easy, so your child is reading the word and not remembering the list.

Frequently asked questions

What is a short a CVC word?

A three-letter word where the middle letter is a and says /a/ as in apple, with a consonant on each side: cat, map, bag. Words like car or saw are not on the list, because the letter after the a changes its sound.

Why are the words grouped by family?

Words in a family share their ending (cat, hat, mat), so once your child can read one, changing the first sound gives them the next. That makes the step from sounding out to reading quickly much easier.

Why are wax, saw and day not on this list?

An x makes two sounds (/ks/), and w or y after a vowel change the vowel sound. This list only keeps words where each letter makes one simple sound.

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