As educators, it’s essential to have short and relatable examples of short ”e” words that kids can remember easily. Consider words like “leg” with a closed syllable. A closed syllable contains a vowel sound that is immediately followed by a consonant ending the word. You can hear the short “e” sound like as in “hen”.

As a child’s decoding skills increase and they encounter longer words, the Short E will appear with letter blends. Some common Short E words include cent, sled, step, and rest. Pro Tip: While the use of a single E is the most commonly used spelling of the short E sound, it is not the only way to make the sound.

These short e vowel words include beginning, middle, and ending sounds with blends and digraphs. Blends are when two or more consonants make two sounds, like “bl” in “bled”. Some examples of beginning blends are bl-, sc-, and -gr. More examples like ‘bend’ have blends at the end including others like -nd, -st, and -mp.

Finding different ways to practice these will ensure students can quickly and easily read these words when they encounter them. The short e word list includes the following words: Teaching these words can be done in a variety of creative ways like word hunts, memory games, activity mats, and tracing sheets.