Year 1 English: Three letters, one sound: ear, air and ure
Part of the Year 1 English two letters, one sound (digraphs) chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page · Download worksheet (PDF) · Answers (PDF)
Three letters, one sound: ear, air and ure
Some sounds are written with three letters. These are trigraphs. ear is in hear. air is in chair. ure is in pure.
Segmenting means splitting a word into its sounds, to spell it. Make one sound box for each sound. Then write the letters for each sound in its box.
| Letters | Example words |
|---|---|
| ear | hear, near, clear, year |
| air | hair, chair, stairs, pair |
| ure | pure, cure |
Key ideas
- A trigraph is three letters that make one sound.
- ear is in hear and year.
- air is in hair and chair.
- ure is in pure and cure.
- To spell a word, segment it into sounds and write each one in a box.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.s - t - air - s
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: air.s | t | air | s
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.4 sounds
- Write the answer. s, t, air, s
Check. Push the boxes together again: s + t + air + s makes stairs. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of air in one box. Do not split air into separate letters.
Method. Look at the picture, then build the word from its sounds.
- Look at the picture. Say what it is, in one word.The picture shows a hair.
- Split the word into sounds. Two letters that make one sound go in one box.h | air
- Write the word. Write each sound in order, with its letters together.hair
Check. Read the sounds back in order: h - air makes hair. ✓
Watch out. Write both letters of air together, in one box.
Key words. Blend means to push the sounds together to read a word.
Method. Say each sound, then push the sounds together to make the word.
- Say the first sound. Use the letters for that sound together.c
- Say the sounds in order. Keep going until you reach the last sound.c - l - ear
- Push the sounds together and read the word. Read them quickly, as one word.clear
- Write the answer. clear
Check. Split the word back into sounds: c, l, ear. ✓
Watch out. Say ear as one sound, not as two separate letters.
Watch out
Watch out: hear has ear, and her has er. chair has air, and year has ear. Look at all three letters before you write.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. For spelling, say the word slowly and tap a finger for each sound box. Then write the letters for each box, with the three-letter boxes written together.
Exercise 2F Reading and splitting ear, air and ure words
Method. Look at the picture, then build the word from its sounds.
- Look at the picture. Say what it is, in one word.The picture shows a hair.
- Split the word into sounds. Two letters that make one sound go in one box.h | air
- Write the word. Write each sound in order, with its letters together.hair
Check. Read the sounds back in order: h - air makes hair. ✓
Watch out. Write both letters of air together, in one box.
Method. Look at the picture, then build the word from its sounds.
- Look at the picture. Say what it is, in one word.The picture shows a chair.
- Split the word into sounds. Two letters that make one sound go in one box.ch | air
- Write the word. Write each sound in order, with its letters together.chair
Check. Read the sounds back in order: ch - air makes chair. ✓
Watch out. Write both letters of ch together, in one box.
Method. Look at the picture, then build the word from its sounds.
- Look at the picture. Say what it is, in one word.The picture shows a stairs.
- Split the word into sounds. Two letters that make one sound go in one box.s | t | air | s
- Write the word. Write each sound in order, with its letters together.stairs
Check. Read the sounds back in order: s - t - air - s makes stairs. ✓
Watch out. Write both letters of air together, in one box.
Method. Find the three letters that make one sound in hear.
- Say hear in sound boxes. The sound at the end has three letters.h | ear
- Find the three letters. e, a and r together make one sound.ear
- Write the answer. ear
Check. Sound boxes: h | ear. The ear box is one sound. ✓
Watch out. Do not write just the e. Keep all three letters together.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.c - l - ear
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: ear.c | l | ear
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.3 sounds
- Write the answer. c, l, ear
Check. Push the boxes together again: c + l + ear makes clear. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of ear in one box. Do not split ear into separate letters.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.p - ure
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: ure.p | ure
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.2 sounds
- Write the answer. p, ure
Check. Push the boxes together again: p + ure makes pure. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of ure in one box. Do not split ure into separate letters.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.p - air
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: air.p | air
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.2 sounds
- Write the answer. p, air
Check. Push the boxes together again: p + air makes pair. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of air in one box. Do not split air into separate letters.
Key words. Blend means to push the sounds together to read a word.
Method. Say each sound, then push the sounds together to make the word.
- Say the first sound. Use the letters for that sound together.p
- Say the sounds in order. Keep going until you reach the last sound.p - air
- Push the sounds together and read the word. Read them quickly, as one word.pair
- Write the answer. pair
Check. Split the word back into sounds: p, air. ✓
Watch out. Say air as one sound, not as two separate letters.
Key words. Blend means to push the sounds together to read a word.
Method. Say each sound, then push the sounds together to make the word.
- Say the first sound. Use the letters for that sound together.n
- Say the sounds in order. Keep going until you reach the last sound.n - ear
- Push the sounds together and read the word. Read them quickly, as one word.near
- Write the answer. near
Check. Split the word back into sounds: n, ear. ✓
Watch out. Say ear as one sound, not as two separate letters.
Key words. Blend means to push the sounds together to read a word.
Method. Say each sound, then push the sounds together to make the word.
- Say the first sound. Use the letters for that sound together.p
- Say the sounds in order. Keep going until you reach the last sound.p - ure
- Push the sounds together and read the word. Read them quickly, as one word.pure
- Write the answer. pure
Check. Split the word back into sounds: p, ure. ✓
Watch out. Say ure as one sound, not as two separate letters.
Method. Use the sound boxes to spell the word.
- Look at the boxes. The first box is y. The second box is ear.y | ear
- Join the boxes together. Write the letters in each box, in order.y + ear
- Write the word. year
Check. Read the word back: y-ear. It is year. ✓
Watch out. Write all three letters of ear together, not as e, a and r apart.
Method. Think about the sound at the end of hear and her.
- Look at hear. hear has the three letters ear, and it sounds like the ear in year.hear: ear
- Look at her. her has only two letters, er, so it is a different word.her: er
- Write the answer. Ravi wrote her, but the word for the picture is hear.No. Hear has ear, not er.
Check. Sound boxes: h | ear and h | er. The words have different letters. ✓
Watch out. Look at the letters before you write. hear and her look alike, but they are different words.
Method. Find the word whose sound is different.
- Look at chair, hair and stairs. Each one has the letters air.chair, hair, stairs: air
- Look at year. year has the letters ear, not air.year: ear
- Write the odd one out. year
Check. chair, hair and stairs have air. year has ear. ✓
Watch out. air and ear look alike, but the sounds are different.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.p - air
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: air.p | air
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.2 sounds
- Write the answer. p, air
Check. Push the boxes together again: p + air makes pair. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of air in one box. Do not split air into separate letters.
Key words. A sound box holds one sound. A digraph is two letters that make one sound.
Method. Say the word slowly. Put the letters for each sound in one box.
- Say the word slowly, one sound at a time. Say each sound on its own, like a robot.c - ure
- Put the letters for each sound in a box. Two or three letters that make one sound share one box: ure.c | ure
- Count the boxes. Each box is one sound.2 sounds
- Write the answer. c, ure
Check. Push the boxes together again: c + ure makes cure. ✓
Watch out. Keep the letters of ure in one box. Do not split ure into separate letters.
Method. Choose three words, and check the letters for each one.
- Think of a word with ear. Pick words such as near or hear.near
- Think of a word with air. Pick words such as pair or hair.pair
- Think of a word with ure. Pick words such as pure or cure.pure
Check. Sound boxes: n | ear, p | air, p | ure. ✓
Watch out. Check each word has the right three letters together.