1st Grade spelling
1st Grade Long A Silent E Words
First grade long a words spelled a_e: make, take, game, name, cake, lake, wave. Play hangman with the list, read it, or print a worksheet.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: One-syllable words spelled a, consonant, e, where the silent e makes the a say its name.
In an a_e word, the silent e at the end makes the a say its name: make, take, same, game, name, came, late, gave, date, lake and wave. The e makes no sound of its own. This is often called the silent e rule or magic e, and it turns a closed syllable like mat into an open vowel word like mate. Each word on this list has one syllable and follows the a, consonant, e shape.
The words were chosen by spelling pattern and each was checked against a pronunciation dictionary for the long a sound, so words like have, which look similar but do not follow the rule, are left out. A frequency check kept them to first grade vocabulary. Teachers often introduce this rule after children have the short vowels, because the contrast between pairs such as can and cane, tap and tape is how the rule is best understood.
30 entries. Our solver needed 4.7 wrong guesses on average: 3 easy, 12 medium and 15 hard. The toughest is wave (12 misses), the quickest sale (1).
- make Hard · 8
- made Hard · 5
- take Hard · 7
- same Medium · 2
- game Hard · 7
- name Medium · 2
- case Medium · 2
- came Hard · 5
- face Medium · 4
- late Medium · 2
- age Hard · 5
- gave Hard · 8
- date Hard · 8
- rate Medium · 3
- save Hard · 5
- page Hard · 6
- race Medium · 4
- safe Medium · 3
- base Medium · 3
- sale Easy · 1
- male Medium · 4
- lake Hard · 5
- wake Hard · 9
- fake Hard · 8
- phase Easy · 1
- wave Hard · 12
- frame Hard · 5
- lane Medium · 3
- grace Medium · 2
- mate Easy · 1
Words worth a closer look
- ageThe a is at the start, with the g in the middle. The e makes the a long and also makes the g soft.
- pageTwo jobs for one e: it makes the a long and the g soft, like j.
- faceThe e makes the a long and the c soft, saying /s/. Race and grace work the same way.
- phasePh says /f/, and the s sounds like z. The long a rule still works.
- gaveEnglish words rarely end in v, so a silent e follows it. It is not needed for the vowel rule here, but it is needed for the spelling.
- waveSame v and silent e habit as gave. Both words fit the pattern, so they make a tidy pair.
Teaching it
Teach with minimal pairs: mat and mate, cap and cape, hat and hate, plan and plane. Ask what the e changes. Have children write both words and draw an arrow from the e to the vowel it affects. Then sort a pile of words into short a and a_e. A stack of cards with the e covered by a finger works well too.
The main mistake is leaving off the final e (mak for make) or writing the long a as ai or ay in the wrong place (maik). Some children add the e to short vowel words, like writing hane for ham. In hangman, tell the group the word is an a_e word, so the final e and the a are likely, and the game centers on the consonants. The printable offers a quick check.
Print a 1st Grade Long A Silent E Hangman worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- 1st Grade Short A WordsFirst grade short a words with blends and digraphs: that, back, last, hand, class, match. Play hangman with the list, or print a worksheet.
- 1st Grade Short E WordsFirst grade short e words with blends and digraphs: when, best, next, check, dress, fresh. Play the hangman game, read the list, or print a sheet.
- 1st Grade Short I WordsFirst grade short i words with blends and digraphs: with, this, think, list, ship, fish, stick. Play hangman, read the list, or print a worksheet.
- 1st Grade Short O WordsFirst grade short o words with blends and digraphs: stop, rock, drop, shop, block, clock, frog. Play hangman, read the list, or print a sheet.
- 1st Grade Short U WordsFirst grade short u words with blends and digraphs: just, much, club, luck, jump, lunch, brush. Play hangman, read the list, or print a sheet.
- 1st Grade SH WordsFirst grade sh words: she, shop, ship, fish, dish, wash, sheep, shell. Play hangman with the list, read it with difficulty scores, or print a sheet.