Here are the 37 most common phonograms and some of the 500 words they make up. Remember that although this list contains only one-syllable words, these phonograms will help students decode longer words, too.
A comprehensive list of phonograms is available in The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists.
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–ab
cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab
–ack
back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track
–ag
bag, rag, tag, brag, flag
–ail
fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail
–ain
main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train
–ake
bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake
–am
ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam
–an
can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than
–ank
bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank
–ap
cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap
–at
bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that
–ay
day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray
–eed
feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed
–ell
bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell
–est
best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest
–ew
dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew
–ick
kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick
–ight
knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight
–ill
fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill
–in
bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin
–ine
fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine
–ing
king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing
–ink
link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think
–ip
dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip
–ob
knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob
–ock
knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock
–op
cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop
–ore
bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store
–ot
got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot
–out
grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout
–ow
cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow
–uck
buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck
–um
gum, hum, drum, plum, slum
–unk
junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk
-y
by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why
Reference: Wylie, R.E., & Durrell, D.D. (1970). Teaching vowels through phonograms. Elementary English: 47, 787-791.
Many more phonograms can be found in The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists by Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis. Prentice Hall, 2000.