Collection · 10 puzzles
Phonics & Spelling Word Searches
Ten puzzles that follow how children learn to read and spell English. Phonics names the skills; Short Vowels and CVC Words start with words like Raft and Hug, Digraphs pair letters into one sound as in sh, ch and th, and R-Controlled Vowels show an r changing the vowel before it, as in Barn, Fern and Fork. Rhyming Words and Sight Words come next, and the later grades bring Compound Words, Homophones and the Spelling words that trip up adults too.
Phonics rests on the idea that letters stand for sounds, which holds for most English words and fails for some. English spelling settled in the age of the first printers, in the 1400s and 1500s, while the Great Vowel Shift was changing how the long vowels were said; the spelling stayed put and the sounds moved on. That is why Knight keeps a k and a gh it no longer sounds, and why a sight word like Said is learned by eye.
Printable Phonics & Spelling Word Searches
Phonics & Spelling Word Search Puzzles
Every puzzle prints in three levels: easy hides 5 words in a 10 by 10 grid, reading only across and down; medium hides 15 in a 12 by 12 grid; hard hides up to 23 in a 15 by 15 grid. Each print is a fresh draw from the topic's word list, and every sheet comes with an answer key. The same puzzles play online, on your own or against a friend in real time.