Short O Word Families Worksheets

These free short o word families worksheets cover the 5 families -op, -ot, -og, -ob, -ock: word family houses, word wheels, sorts, roll and read, fluency grids and a vowel swap page. A word family is a group of words that share an ending, so a child who can read cop can also read hop and mop.

Short O word families worksheets to print (PDF)

The four printables below are a house, a sort, a roll and read page and a fluency grid. Click a picture for the PDF.

Short O word families list: every word in the worksheets

The short o word families worksheets use 29 words from the 5 families, which become 52 if you turn on blends. The biggest family is -ot with 9 words, and the smallest is -ock with 4. Here is every family:

The short o sound and how its families are spelled

All the short o word families share one vowel sound, the one in hot. It is spelled with the single letter o in every family here, and in the -ock family the ending is spelled ck, two letters for the one k sound. In much of the United States short o is said like “ah”, so cot and caught sound the same, and children have to learn the spelling pattern, not only the sound. The Common Core grade 1 reading foundations standards expect children to read regularly spelled one-syllable words, which is what these families practice.

Silent e changes the vowel again: hop becomes hope, not becomes note, rob becomes robe and mop becomes mope. The onset and rime idea behind every family is explained on the short a word families page.

Where to start with the short o word families

The -op family has 5 words in the houses and wheels: cop, hop, mop, pop, top. Turn on the blends option to add chop, drop, flop, shop, stop, crop.

The -ot family has 9 words in the houses and wheels: cot, dot, got, hot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot. Turn on the blends option to add knot, plot, shot, spot, slot, trot.

The -og family has 6 words in the houses and wheels: bog, dog, fog, hog, jog, log. Turn on the blends option to add frog, clog, smog.

Start with -op because it makes many everyday words. When a child can read the whole family, move on to -ot and then the rest, in this order: op, ot, og, ob and ock. The houses can be printed in any order, and you can print a family a second time with the blends turned on.

Short o sentences to read, one for each family

Once children can read the words in a list, they need to meet them in sentences. These sentences use only words from the families on this page, with the family words in bold:

Ask the child to read each sentence, then to underline the family words and say which ones rhyme. For writing practice, ask them to make up their own sentence for each family on the sentence line of the house.

Short o worksheets: how to teach 5 families

A simple plan is one family a day, with a different printable each time, and a fluency grid at the end of the week. This is a schedule for the short o word families:

The week of short o word families ends with a fluency grid. The smallest family, -ock, has only 4 words and is quick to finish, so print its sort on the same day as -ot, which has 9.

A worked example: the -ot word family worksheet

The biggest of the short o word families is -ot, with 9 words: cot, dot, got, hot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot. In its house the ending -ot sits on the roof and the words fill the windows. The six boxes underneath already show the ending, and a child writes c, d or g in front of it to build cot, dot or got.

With blends turned on it also holds knot, plot, shot, spot, slot, trot.

What is in the complete packet

Pages in each printable:

For the 5 short o word families the complete packet has 16 pages: a house and a wheel for each family (10 pages), plus the sorts, roll and read, fluency grid and vowel swap pages that are shared. The families have 29 words in the houses and wheels, and 23 more with blends turned on.

Short o word families: frequently asked questions

Which short o family should I teach first?

Start with the -op word family: it makes everyday words such as hop, mop and top, and its blends add chop, shop and stop.

How many words are in the short o word families?

There are 29 words in the 5 families, and 23 more if you turn on blends. The biggest family is -ot with 9 words, and the smallest is -ock with 4.

Which words look like short o words but are not?

Son, ton and done are spelled with an o but say “uh”, and go, no and so say the long o. Teach them as sight words and do not add them to the short o families.

Which short o words are easy to mix up with other vowels?

The vowel swap page pairs dog with dig and dug, cop with cap and cup, not with net and nut and lock with lick and luck. Short o and short u are the pair that is hardest to hear in some accents.

How do I add blend words to the short o families?

Turn on “Add blend and digraph words” in the generator. On this page -op adds chop, drop, flop; -ot adds knot, plot, shot. Words with blends go into the houses, wheels and sorts as extra rows.

More word family worksheets

• Short vowel review worksheets with mixed vowels
• Long vowel word families worksheets
• Pre-primer sight words worksheets and 1st grade spelling words