Reading starts with sounds, not letter names: the letter c says “kuh”, not “see”. This tool lets children hear the sound of every letter and the common letter teams (sh, ch, th, ng, ee, oo, ai, ar), each with a picture word. In Blend words, a word appears as sound tiles. Tap each tile to hear it, then press Sound it out to hear the sounds one by one and then the whole word, with the picture revealed at the end. Three levels move from simple c-a-t words to letter teams and consonant blends like fr-o-g and st-a-r.
loading toolHow to practise phonics
- Open Letter sounds and tap a letter to hear its sound and example word.
- Open Blend words and choose a level.
- Tap each sound tile, then press Sound it out to blend the word and see its picture.
- Play the Listen game: hear the sounds and tap the right picture.
Good to know
- Ask your child to say the word before the picture appears: that is blending!
- Once blending is easy, try the Spelling game, which works the other way round (hearing a word and writing its sounds).
Questions
Why is there no sound?
Sounds use the speech voices built into your phone or computer. Turn the volume up and check silent mode. If one language stays silent, your device has no voice for it yet: on Android add it in Settings → Text-to-speech, on iPhone in Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices, on Windows in Settings → Time & language → Speech.
Why do the sounds sound a little odd?
Speech voices are made to read words, not single sounds, so we write each sound the way it is spoken (for example “kuh” for c and “sss” for s). When you model sounds yourself, keep them short and clipped: “k”, not “kuh”, as far as you can.
What are CVC words?
Consonant-vowel-consonant words such as cat, dog and sun. They are the first words children blend because every letter makes its simplest sound.
In what order should letters be taught?
Many schools start with s, a, t, p, i, n, because those six letters already make lots of words (sat, pin, tap, nap). Follow your child’s school if it uses a particular phonics scheme.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything happens inside your own browser: nothing you type or choose is uploaded to us or anyone else.
Is it free?
Completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on how many times you use it. Light ads keep the site running.
