The short oo sound appears in everyday words like book, hoodie, cookie and more, but it has a lookalike that makes it particularly challenging for young students and can be written in several different ways. It's confusing, to say the least! By teaching these short oo words intentionally and offering students lots of hands-on practice, your students will be able to tell these sounds apart in no time!
As you work your way through the short vowel sounds, you'll eventually come across some common but confusing sounds, like the short oo or the schwa.
The challenge is that there are two different types of oo sounds: the short vowel sound, like the words cook and shook, and the long oo sound (moon, snooze). Since they look identical, students almost always need to test out both versions when decoding words.
But, the spelling also appears in the same position in words, so you can't use the letter position to help, and there are very few ways to tell when to use each one. The short oo can also be written with an u, which throws another layer of confusion into the mix!
The short oo is in lots of words, and your students will encounter them right away when they start reading books. They’re just as hard to spell when they begin to write, too!
The different sounds of oo don't have to be confusing, though. Below, I'll break down everything you need to know about the short oo, including how to teach it, and provide you with tried-and-true resources, printable word lists, and more!
What is the short oo sound?
The short oo sound (/oo/) makes the sound you hear from the:
- u in pull
- oo in took
- o in woman
I will admit that this is one of the trickiest sounds to teach because it is so subtle! It's a bit of a tongue twister. It's not quite the short o (hot) or the short u (hut), and it's definitely not the long oo (moon). It's an entirely different sound, like the oo in the word book.
Even adults struggle to tell the difference, which is why it's so important for us to teach it to students from a young age. By using evidence-based instructional practices like orthographic mapping, we can help our students map the entire word into their long-term memory instead of relying on the less efficient visual memory. This makes it much easier for students to read and write independently!
Because this skill is more advanced, I generally don't teach it until 1st or 2nd grade when students have some strong decoding skills under their belts.
You generally find the short oo sound between two consonants as a medial vowel, like in the word book or pull. Many of the words are 1-2 syllables, although there are some multisyllabic words that position the /oo/ in the final vowel position (octopus).
Comparing the vowel sounds in "good mood" is a great, practical example that can help students. Good is a short vowel sound, and mood has the long oo. The differences are subtle, but you can hear them when they're right next to each other!
Short OO Sound Word List
Although you really cannot tell when a word will make the short oo or long oo, there are a couple of specific patterns that usually make the short sound. As you can imagine, exceptions do apply!
Please note that this list was developed from an Australian dialect, and there may be subtle differences between American English and other dialects.
-oo Spelling Pattern
Many short oo words are very common words we use day-to-day, such as:
- book
- cook
- crook
- hook
- nook
- shook
- good
- hood
- stood
- soot
- wool
- woof
The letter group ook almost always makes the short oo sound, although spook does not. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but it can be helpful!
Similarly, the letter group ood often makes the short oo sound (good, hood). Notable expectations include food, mood, and brood, which have the long sound.
-u Spelling Pattern
This is the most common spelling pattern for the short oo, but it's a little trickier for students to discern because it sounds so similar to the short u sound. Don't worry—all the resources below focus on when to use oo and u, so your students will have plenty of resources to help!
- bull
- bully
- pull
- full
- sugar
- bush
- push
- butcher
- pudding
- octopus
-o Pattern
This is much less common, and there are only a small number of words with the short oo written as o.
- woman
- wolf
You'll also find the short oo sound in could, would, and should. I generally teach these as tricky words since they are not phonetically decodable and are so frequently used.
Teaching the Short OO Vowel
Be sure to teach short and long vowels first! This is the first thing I cover to make sure it's really clear that there are different types of vowel sounds. Students won't be ready for exceptions to the rule until they understand the rules first.
Initially, you can teach some of these short oo words as heart words or tricky words that they must learn "by heart." Eventually, students will have the skills to decode them, but they may not learn those until long after they actually need them.
Short OO - Activities, Resources & Games
I believe in making learning as interactive and engaging as possible. Below, you'll find a wide variety of fun, hands-on activities that set them apart from the standard print-and-go worksheets. The more students can get up, talk, and move around, the better they will be able to focus. Plus, they'll be able to remember the topics more deeply, as well!
Some of the resources below are exclusively available on The Hive, so be sure to start your free 14 day trial to check them out!
Short OO Online Activities
The Hive is my digital teacher planner...and then some. It's an all-in-one interface that allows you to manage your schedule, plan your lessons, and pull up hundreds of the best resources, worksheets, games, and activities all at once. There's nothing else like this out there, and it makes teaching so much easier!
My husband and I have created dozens of interactive apps that you can implement instantly for whole group or small group instruction. It also includes my massive resource library, which you can attach to your daily schedule with just the click of a button!
With my background in synthetic phonics, I wanted to create tools that help students genuinely learn in a deep and meaningful way. The apps turn the best evidence-based practices, like orthographic mapping, into daily routines you can integrate seamlessly into your schedule. This is truly teaching smarter, not harder!
All of the apps below are perfect for teaching short oo words or other specific phonics skills. I generally recommend using these as a whole room activity to dig deep into a few focus words each day, but they can also be pulled up on a laptop for practising with small groups!
Word Builder
Beedle
Decodable Sentences
Plus...
- Tic Tac Toe
- Four in a Roll
- Decodable Words
- Nonsense Decodable Words
- Flash Cards
- Roll a Silly Sentence
- Spinner Picker
- ... and more!
Short Vowel OO Powerpoint
This interactive slideshow includes 450 pages of instruction and activities to teach and reinforce this concept. I recommend using this with the whole class to introduce the topic of phonemes and graphemes and then the short oo sound. Students will get plenty of practice encoding, decoding and using the words in many different ways. The words are also tailored to teach both of the main spelling patterns and use best practices to make sure students really learn them and don't just memorise them!
If you're not sure where to start, start here!
There is also a Google Slides version of this resource you can connect to your daily timetable on The Hive with one click.
Decodable Fluency Texts
I've been working hard to create decodable texts that align with each key phonics skill, and they're finally here! These short oo decodable fluency texts are editable and differentiated, so they're appropriate for all students. There are three levels of difficulty so that students can build their skills over time, or you can offer differentiated texts for students based on their current reading ability.
Short OO Sound Bingo
This bingo game board is a great way to have students practise identifying the oo or u spelling pattern in short oo words. They'll need to match up cards with oo or u with words on the game board to figure out which one goes where. It's simple but effective and is great for independent work!
Spelling Clip Cards
Help your students differentiate between the different sounds of short oo by comparing the pictures on two-paneled cards and clipping the right one. Is it pooling or pulling? Godnight or goodnight? They'll need to hear the difference between the short oo, long u, short o, and short u, so it's more complicated than it looks!
Word Sorts
These word sorts have several levels, so they're well worth the effort to print them out! Each sort includes a T-chart separated by oo and u with a stack of image cards. Students then sort words based on the spelling pattern.
The easier option includes both images and words on the card, but gradually, students could have a go at sorting with just written words OR images without the written words.
Tic Tac Toe
As students read the words on the board, they mark them as oo or u to see until they get three in a row. I have a printable version of this short oo tic tac toe, but there is also a digital version you can assign instantly!
Roll It, Read It, Keep It
Roll It, Read It, Keep It is the perfect activity for literacy centers! On each game board, students place word cards face down. As they roll the dice, they pick up the corresponding card and must be able to read it to keep it. You can also turn it into a partner activity and require students to spell the word correctly to keep it. It's interactive, hands-on, and is a great way to practise decoding and encoding. Perfect for 1st grade and 2nd grade!
Decodable Sentences
I always try to put phonics skills in context whenever possible. We want our students to be able to read full sentences, not just individual words.
These decodable sentence activities require students to match images with written sentences and some make it more complex by having them write the sentence as well.
There are several different types of decodable sentence mats and task cards for short oo, and I have them for many different phonics skills, too!
Open-Ended Short Vowel Sounds Assessment
Assessment is an integral, non-negotiable part of teaching. We need evidence to understand what our students know and where they need to continue improving. These open-ended short vowels assessments require students to generate lists of words with different phonemes, so they can't simply shade in a multiple-choice bubble and find the right answer.
Use them to pre-assess the short oo before you dive into teaching and to confirm growth after!
