Short i words (CVC word list)
Short i is the sound in pig, sit and lip. After short a, it is usually the next vowel children learn to blend. Tap any word to hear it, read the sentences, and try the game below.
Short i words list (39 words)
Tap a word to hear it.
-ig words
-in words
-it words
-ip words
-id words
-ib words
-im words
Short i words game: listen and find
Hear a word from the list and pick it from four look-alike words. Eight rounds, about two minutes.
Short i words spelling game: build the word
Hear a word and build it from letter tiles, one sound at a time. Letter pairs like sh or ck come as one tile, because they spell one sound. Six rounds.
Short answer
What are short i words?
Short i words contain the vowel sound /i/ heard in pig, as opposed to the long i in bike or kite. The simplest short i words are CVC words: a consonant, the letter i and a consonant, such as big, pin, sit and lid. Children read them by saying each of the three sounds and blending them, and short i is commonly taught second, right after short a.
- The short i sound is written /i/ or /Ιͺ/ and is heard in pig, it and in.
- Short i CVC words fall into word families such as -ig, -in, -it, -ip and -id.
- Short i is often taught right after short a because the two vowels sound very different.
- The most common confusion is between short i and short e, as in pin and pen.
About short i words
The short i sound is the vowel in the middle of pig. The mouth is almost closed, the lips are slightly spread as if starting a small smile, and the tongue is high near the front. It is a quick, light sound. The letter name eye belongs to long i words like bike, so practise the short sound on its own first with an anchor word such as itch or insect.
Short i pairs well with short a as a child's first two vowels, because the mouth shapes are so different: wide open for a, nearly closed for i. Once both are secure, reading bag and big, or tap and tip, side by side trains the child to look at the middle letter instead of guessing from the first one. The -ig, -it and -ip families are a good starting point, since they include many picture-friendly words such as pig, wig, kit and zip.
All 39 words on this page are decodable with single letter sounds. There are no digraphs like sh or ch and no silent e. Words such as fish and ship also have short i, but they use a two-letter sound and come later. Two very common words that look like short i CVC words, his and is, are usually taught as sight words, because the s in them sounds like /z/. Reading many fully decodable words is what research on systematic phonics supports most strongly for struggling readers.
Short i words in sentences
Decodable sentences: every word can be sounded out with the patterns on this page, plus a few very common words.
- The big pig is in the pit.
- Kim hid the lid in a tin.
- Tim can dip a fig in the jam.
- Did the kid win a pin?
- Sit on the rim of the bin.
- Liz has a wig and a bib.
- The pig can dig in a pit.
- Zip it up and sit with him.
Common mix-ups with short i words
Short i and short e (pin and pen)
This is the hardest vowel pair for many children, and in some American accents the two words sound the same. Slow down and show the difference: short i keeps the mouth nearly shut, short e drops the jaw a little. Read pairs like sit and set, bid and bed, lid and led.
Reading i as its letter name (bit and bite)
If bit becomes bite, the child is using the letter name. Explain that in a three-letter word without an e on the end, i usually says its short sound. Silent e words, where i says its name, are a later step.
b and d in bid and did
Short i has several words that start or end with b or d: bid, did, bib, rid. Have your child trace the letter while saying its sound, and keep one letter at a time in focus before mixing both in the same session.
Short i words activities
Smile check
Hand your child a small mirror. Say a short i word and have them repeat it, watching for the small smile shape of the lips. Then say a short a word and notice how much wider the mouth opens. Sort word cards into smile words and wide-mouth words.
Word family flip book
Write an ending like -ip on a strip of card. On small cards clipped over the front, write d, h, l, n, r, s, t and z. Your child flips one card at a time and reads the new word: dip, hip, lip. Then swap the ending for -ig and read the list again.
Blending with toy trains
Use three toy train cars or blocks, one for each sound. Place a letter card on each car, say the sounds as your child pushes the cars together, then read the joined word. Pull one car off and swap in a new letter to make a different word.
Short i hopscotch
Chalk six to eight short i words on the ground in squares. Call out a word and have your child hop to it, saying each sound on landing. Moving the body while saying sounds keeps practice active and helps children who find sitting still difficult.
Short i words: frequently asked questions
What is a short i word?
A word with the /i/ sound heard in pig and sit. The simplest ones are three-letter CVC words like big, pin, lid and zip.
What is the difference between short i and long i?
Short i is the sound in pig. Long i says the letter's name, as in bike, kite or pie. Long i words usually have a silent e or another letter to show the vowel is long.
What are some short i words for kindergarten?
Good first choices are big, pig, sit, lip, zip, pin and lid. They are short, easy to picture, and use letters children usually learn early.
How often should my child practise short i words?
A few minutes a day works better than one long session. Spacing practice over several days helps the words stay remembered, so return to the list regularly.
Practise next
- Short a wordsShort a is the sound in cat, map and bag, and it is usually the first vowel children blend. Hear every word, try the sentences, and play the game at the bottom.
- Short e wordsShort e is the sound in bed, hen and wet. It is the vowel children mix up most, so this list keeps every word simple: three letters, three sounds. Listen, read the sentences, then play the game.
- Ig family wordsBig, dig, pig and wig all end in -ig, the first short i family most children learn. Hear each word, see how -ig works in longer words, and play the game.
- It family wordsBit, fit, kit, pit and sit all end in -it. Listen to each word, from the three-letter ones to split, rabbit and orbit, read the sentences, and play the game.
Sources
- Galuschka K, Ise E, Krick K, Schulte-KΓΆrne G (2014). Effectiveness of treatment approaches for children and adolescents with reading disabilities: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS One, 9(2), e89900.
- Cepeda NJ, Pashler H, Vul E, Wixted JT, Rohrer D (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: a review and quantitative synthesis. Psychol Bull, 132(3), 354-80.