1st Grade spelling
1st Grade SH Words
First 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.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: One-syllable words where s and h together make the single sound /sh/.
The digraph sh is two letters that make one sound, /sh/, with neither s nor h heard on its own. That is the difference between a digraph and a blend: in a blend such as st, you still hear both sounds. This list has one-syllable sh words: she, show, short, share, shape, shirt, crash, shell, sheep, dish, flash and trash. Some start with sh, others end with it.
The words were picked by spelling pattern and checked with a pronunciation dictionary so each really has the /sh/ sound. Frequency data kept them in a first grade band. Sh shows up in both beginnings and endings, which is useful: children learn that the same two letters can open a word (shell) or close one (dish), and that the vowel in between can be short, long or something else. Several words have vowels that follow other patterns, so this list is a good place to compare sounds.
30 entries. Our solver needed 3.7 wrong guesses on average: 4 easy, 17 medium and 9 hard. The toughest is show (8 misses), the quickest sheet (0).
- she Hard · 6
- should Medium · 3
- show Hard · 8
- short Medium · 3
- share Easy · 1
- shall Medium · 4
- shown Medium · 4
- push Hard · 7
- shape Hard · 5
- shirt Medium · 3
- crash Medium · 3
- shame Medium · 4
- bush Hard · 8
- sharp Hard · 5
- wash Hard · 6
- flash Medium · 3
- trash Easy · 1
- sheet Easy · 0
- shell Medium · 2
- shake Hard · 7
- shore Medium · 2
- shield Medium · 2
- shoe Medium · 2
- dish Medium · 4
- flesh Medium · 2
- sheep Easy · 1
- shine Medium · 4
- ash Medium · 3
- shade Medium · 3
- shy Hard · 5
Words worth a closer look
- shouldThe sh is regular, but the ould is not: the l is silent. Teach it with could and would as a set.
- pushThe u sounds like the oo in book, not short u. It rhymes with bush, so teach them together.
- washThe a sounds like o here because of the w before it. Many children write wosh.
- shoeSpelled with oe, and the sh is the easy part. Say it aloud, then cover it and write it from memory.
- shirtThe ir makes an r-controlled vowel sound. The sh is straightforward, so focus on the ir.
- sheepThe ee spells the long e. A word that stays the same for singular and plural, which is worth a short mention.
Teaching it
Introduce sh with a sound everyone knows: the quiet sign. Then sort words by position, sh at the start or end. Children can use two-color tiles or a highlighter to show that the pair is one unit. Reading the words in a column and sorting them is more effective than just copying them.
Typical mistakes are writing s alone (sop for shop), reversing the letters to hs, and using the sound at the end without the h (dis for dish). Check also words that do not follow short vowel rules, such as push and bush. In a hangman round, announce whether the word starts or ends with sh before guessing. The printable includes a mix of both kinds for a short test.
Print a 1st Grade SH 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 CH WordsFirst grade ch words: chair, cheese, each, beach, teach, watch, pitch. Play hangman with the list, read it with scores, or print a worksheet.