Kindergarten spelling
Kindergarten CVC Short A Words
Short a CVC words for kindergarten: cat, map, van, bag and more. Play the hangman game, read the list with difficulty scores, or print a sheet.
Read the spelling list
The pattern: Three-letter consonant-vowel-consonant words where a makes its short sound, checked by pronunciation.
A CVC word has a consonant, a vowel and a consonant, and in a closed syllable like this the vowel says its short sound. Short a is the sound in cat, the one most kindergarten programs start with because the mouth shape is easy to see and hear. This list holds three-letter words only: cat, map, van, bag, jam, tap, lap, dad and more.
The words were picked by pattern and then checked against a pronunciation dictionary, so every one really has the short a sound. Frequency data kept the list to words five-year-olds are likely to know. Kindergarten spelling is mostly about hearing each sound in order and writing a letter for it, and a lot of that work happens out loud or with letter tiles before any pencil work. The list is long enough to cover a few weeks of practice, so most classes split it into chunks.
30 entries. Our solver needed 8.4 wrong guesses on average: 0 easy, 7 medium and 23 hard. The toughest is tax (15 misses), the quickest sat (2).
- can Hard · 7
- has Medium · 4
- had Hard · 6
- man Medium · 4
- bad Hard · 11
- tax Hard · 15
- gas Hard · 9
- dad Hard · 6
- fan Hard · 8
- ran Medium · 3
- sad Hard · 7
- bag Hard · 13
- cat Hard · 7
- van Hard · 14
- map Hard · 11
- sat Medium · 2
- ban Hard · 13
- hat Medium · 4
- cap Hard · 8
- gap Hard · 9
- tag Hard · 11
- lab Hard · 14
- pan Hard · 9
- bat Hard · 11
- tap Hard · 10
- lap Hard · 10
- dam Hard · 6
- jam Hard · 12
- rat Medium · 3
- ham Medium · 4
Words worth a closer look
- hasThe a is short, but the s says /z/. Children who spell by sound alone may write haz, so teach it as a word to remember, and it is also a very common sight word.
- taxThree letters but four sounds, because x stands for /k/ and /s/ together. A good word for showing that letters and sounds do not always match one to one.
- labShort for laboratory. Many children know it from science class, and the b at the end is a good partner for the d in dad when practicing b and d.
- dadBoth b and d trouble: the word starts and ends with the same letter. Say the first and last sounds separately and have the child trace the letter shape.
- catThe classic first word for the pattern. Use it as the anchor, then compare with the other words that rhyme with it, such as bat, rat and sat.
Teaching it
Start by saying the word slowly and pulling the sounds apart: /k/ /a/ /t/. Have the child push a tile or tap a finger for each sound, then write one letter per tap. Once that is steady, change one sound at a time: cat, can, man, mat. Changing a single letter shows that the middle vowel stays put while the edges move.
Common slips are leaving out the vowel (writing ct for cat), swapping the vowel for another short sound, and reversing b and d in bad, bag and dad. For a hangman round, the teacher should reveal the vowel first, then let the group guess the consonants. Three-letter words are the hardest on this site for a solver because so many words fit the pattern, so a free vowel keeps the game friendly. Print the sheet afterward for a quick written check.
Print a Kindergarten CVC Short A 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
- Kindergarten CVC Short E WordsShort e CVC words for kindergarten: red, bed, pen, net, wet, leg and more. Play hangman with the list, check difficulty scores, or print a sheet.
- Kindergarten CVC Short I WordsShort i CVC words for kindergarten: big, pig, sit, kid, win, six and more. Play the hangman game, read the scored list, or print a practice sheet.
- Kindergarten CVC Short O WordsShort o CVC words for kindergarten: top, hot, fox, box, pot, mop and more. Play hangman with the list, see difficulty scores, or print a worksheet.
- Kindergarten CVC Short U WordsShort u CVC words for kindergarten: sun, bug, cup, mud, rug, hug and more. Play the hangman game, read the scored list, or print a worksheet.
- Kindergarten Word Family WordsWord family lists for kindergarten, from -at and -an to -ug and -un, grouped by ending. Play hangman with each family, or print a worksheet.