Year 1 English: Other spellings: oe, ew, ue, ou and oy
Part of the Year 1 English more ways to write a sound chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page · Download worksheet (PDF) · Answers (PDF)
Other spellings: oe, ew, ue, ou and oy
oe says the sound in boat, as in toe and hoe. It is usually at the end of a word.
ew and ue both say the oo sound in moon. Use ew in new and chew. Use ue in blue and true. You need to learn which words use each one.
ou says the sound in cow, as in out, cloud and mouse. oy says the sound in coin, as in boy and toy. It is usually at the end of a word.
Key ideas
- oe says the oh sound, as in toe and hoe.
- ew and ue both say the oo sound, as in new and blue.
- ou says the ow sound, as in out and cloud.
- oy says the oi sound, as in boy and toy.
- Some spellings must be learnt, because the rule is not always enough.
Key words. A split digraph is a vowel, then one consonant, then e at the end, like the a, k and e in cake.
Method. Name the picture, then write the word with the right letters.
- Look at the picture. Say the name of the thing in a whole word.The picture shows a shoe.
- Say the word slowly. Look at every letter, one at a time.s - h - o - e
- Write the word. Write the letters in the right order.shoe
Check. Count the letters in shoe: there are 4. ✓
Watch out. Look at every letter. A word with a letter missing or in the wrong place is not right.
Method. Look for the letters ue in each word.
- Look at each word. Find the two letters we want.blue: has ue
blew: does not have ue
bloom: does not have ue - Think about the spelling rule. ue is at the end of blue. blew has ew, not ue.The letters ue are in blue
- Write the answer. blue
Check. Read blue with your finger. The letters ue are in it. ✓
Watch out. Do not mix up ue with the other spellings of the same sound. Learn the words that use it.
Method. Say the word, then check which spelling is right.
- Look at the two spellings. Only one of them is a real English word.toi is not the word; toy is
- Use the spelling rule. oy is usually at the end of a word, as in toy and boy.The right word is toy
- Write the word. toy
Check. Look at the picture or the meaning of toy to check it. ✓
Watch out. Some words follow a rule. Others you learn by heart.
Watch out
Watch out: cloud is spelled ou, not ow. A cow is spelled with ow. Look at the letters before you write.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. Make two lists on paper: words with ew, and words with ue. Ask your child: “Which list does blue go on?” Keep the lists for reading practice.
Exercise 3E Other spellings: oe, ew, ue, ou and oy
Key words. A split digraph is a vowel, then one consonant, then e at the end, like the a, k and e in cake.
Method. Name the picture, then write the word with the right letters.
- Look at the picture. Say the name of the thing in a whole word.The picture shows a cloud.
- Say the word slowly. Look at every letter, one at a time.c - l - o - u - d
- Write the word. Write the letters in the right order.cloud
Check. Count the letters in cloud: there are 5. ✓
Watch out. Look at every letter. A word with a letter missing or in the wrong place is not right.
Key words. A split digraph is a vowel, then one consonant, then e at the end, like the a, k and e in cake.
Method. Name the picture, then write the word with the right letters.
- Look at the picture. Say the name of the thing in a whole word.The picture shows a mouse.
- Say the word slowly. Look at every letter, one at a time.m - o - u - s - e
- Write the word. Write the letters in the right order.mouse
Check. Count the letters in mouse: there are 5. ✓
Watch out. Look at every letter. A word with a letter missing or in the wrong place is not right.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.n?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.new: the gap is ew
- Write the missing letters. ew
Check. Put ew into the gap and read new again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.bl?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.blue: the gap is ue
- Write the missing letters. ue
Check. Put ue into the gap and read blue again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.gr?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.grew: the gap is ew
- Write the missing letters. ew
Check. Put ew into the gap and read grew again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.gl?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.glue: the gap is ue
- Write the missing letters. ue
Check. Put ue into the gap and read glue again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Look for the letters oe in each word.
- Look at each word. Find the two letters we want.toe: has oe
tie: does not have oe
tow: does not have oe - Think about the spelling rule. oe says the oh sound, as in boat, and toe ends with oe.The letters oe are in toe
- Write the answer. toe
Check. Read toe with your finger. The letters oe are in it. ✓
Watch out. Do not mix up oe with the other spellings of the same sound. Learn the words that use it.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.o?t
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.out: the gap is ou
- Write the missing letters. ou
Check. Put ou into the gap and read out again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.f?nd
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.found: the gap is ou
- Write the missing letters. ou
Check. Put ou into the gap and read found again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.sh?t
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.shout: the gap is ou
- Write the missing letters. ou
Check. Put ou into the gap and read shout again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.t?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.toy: the gap is oy
- Write the missing letters. oy
Check. Put oy into the gap and read toy again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.j?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.joy: the gap is oy
- Write the missing letters. oy
Check. Put oy into the gap and read joy again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Read the whole word, then find the letters that fit the gap.
- Read the word with the gap. Look at the letters around the gap.b?
- Think about the whole word. The word must be spelled as a whole word.boy: the gap is oy
- Write the missing letters. oy
Check. Put oy into the gap and read boy again. ✓
Watch out. Read the whole word, not just the letters near the gap.
Method. Look at the letters in cloud.
- Look at the word Lila wrote. Lila wrote c, l, o, w, d.clowd
- Look at the right spelling. cloud has the letters o and u together, which is ou.cloud: c, l, ou, d
- Decide if she is right. ow is spelled in cow, not in cloud.No.
Check. Read cloud with your finger. The letters ou are in the middle. ✓
Watch out. ou and ow can make the same sound, so learn which words use each.
Method. Sort each word by its spelling pattern, one word at a time.
- Look at each word in turn. Find the letters or the pattern that tells the group.new, few, chew, blue, true, glue
- Put each word in the group that matches. Keep the groups apart.ew: new, few, chew
ue: blue, true, glue - Write the groups. ew: new, few, chew; ue: blue, true, glue
Check. Count the words: there are 6 in all, and none are left out. ✓
Watch out. Check every word is in one group only.
Method. Say the word, then check which spelling is right.
- Look at the two spellings. Only one of them is a real English word.nue is not the word; new is
- Use the spelling rule. ew is one way to spell the oo sound. nue is not an English word.The right word is new
- Write the word. new
Check. Look at the picture or the meaning of new to check it. ✓
Watch out. Some words follow a rule. Others you learn by heart.
Method. Think about the words that end with the oo sound.
- Look at new, few and chew. Each of these ends with ew.new, few, chew: all end in ew
- Look at blue and true. Each of these ends with ue.blue, true: both end in ue
- Decide if it is always ue. Some words with the oo sound end in ew, so ue is not always right.No.
Check. Read new, blue, few and true. Two spellings, both with the oo sound. ✓
Watch out. Learn the words with ew and ue, rather than guessing.