Quick start
Just what you need to know — a 30-second refresher.
- Pick a word source in panel 1: the built-in list, your own pasted words, or both together. You can also paste a list of words to leave out (ones you’ve already used).
- In panel 2, switch off the sounds you haven’t taught. Results are one-vowel words, shown only when their start, vowel, and ending are all still selected. A column left fully on means “any sound is fine there”; empty the start column for vowel-first words, the end column for words ending on the vowel.
- Optionally narrow it in panel 3 by number of sounds or letter count.
- Click any word to drop it; click again to bring it back. Then Copy list and paste it into Blending Practice or wherever you need it.
Glued sounds (ing, ank, all…) count as one sound
— matching the boxes in Blending Practice — and appear as a lilac group in the middle column.
Toggle Weld glued sounds off for one letter-sound per box.
Your choices are saved on this computer, so the page comes back the way you left it.
How the Word List Builder works
This tool sifts a list of words down to just the ones that fit the sounds and shapes you’re teaching, so you can copy a clean set for practice. Here is what each panel does.
1 · Word source. Choose Built-in word list for a few hundred common and decodable words for early readers, My pasted words to filter a list you already have — one per line, or separated by spaces or commas — or Built-in + mine to filter the built-in list and your own pasted words together. Inappropriate words are screened out automatically, and a very long paste is capped at the first 20,000 words. The Remove these words box drops any words you list from the results — handy for ones you’ve already used and don’t want to repeat — and it works whichever source you pick.
2 · Sounds — start, middle & end. Each column holds the spellings that can
appear in that position: beginning consonants, digraphs, and blends, the vowel in the middle (short vowels,
vowel teams, the igh trigraph, and r-controlled vowels), and the ending consonants,
digraphs, trigraphs (tch, dge), doubles, and blends. Every result is a
one-vowel word — one beginning, one vowel, one ending — so a word shows only when
all three of its parts use sounds you’ve left selected.
Each column works three ways:
- Fully selected (the default) — that position is unrestricted; any sound is allowed there.
- Some selected — only words using one of those sounds in that position appear.
- Switched fully off — emptying the start column gives words that begin with the
vowel, with no opening consonant (
at,eat,oak); emptying the end column gives words that end on the vowel, with no closing consonant (he,day,cow). The vowel column can’t be emptied — every word needs a vowel.
Because every match has a single vowel, multi-syllable words like rabbit appear only while
all sounds are still selected — or when you filter by number of sounds or length alone in
panel 3. Switching any sound off limits the list to one-vowel words. Use the all / none links
above each group, or the two buttons below the grid, to move quickly.
Digraphs, trigraphs & doubles. A digraph is two letters for one sound (sh,
ch, ck); a trigraph is three (igh, tch,
dge); doubles are repeated letters (ll, ss). The tool counts
each of these as a single sound, so catch is three sounds: c · a ·
tch.
Glued / welded sounds. In words like king, bank, and ball
the vowel is “glued” to what follows and is taught as one chunk. With Weld glued sounds
on (the default), each counts as a single sound — king is two sounds
(k · ing), matching the boxes in Blending Practice — and the rimes appear as a
Glued / welded group in the middle column, where they act as the word’s vowel (tinted
lilac). So band reads b · an · d: a start, the glued vowel, an
ending. Turn the toggle off to go back to one letter-sound per box (k · i · ng),
and the glued group disappears. The ng/nk families always weld; all/am/an
weld only when a consonant follows, so name and shallow stay unwelded.
Blends. A blend is two or three consonants whose sounds you still hear separately
(bl, str at the start; nd, mp at the end) —
unlike a digraph, each letter keeps its own sound. Picking a blend matches words with that
exact cluster: choosing bl gives blot and black, not
every b- or l- word. Because each consonant still counts as its own sound,
stamp is five sounds: s · t · a · m · p. The
Show sounds through group quick-buttons cover single letter-sounds only — reach for the
blend chips (or Select all sounds) when you want blends.
Show the pattern (regex). The sounds you pick build a search pattern automatically. The chips themselves do the real, sound-accurate filtering (they respect digraphs, blends, and doubles); this pattern is a handy copyable approximation — save it and paste it back in to rebuild a similar set. If you know regular expressions you can edit it by hand; touching the sound chips again will rewrite it from your selection.
3 · Narrow it down. Optionally limit by number of sounds (the same as boxes in
Blending Practice) or by fewest / most letters. The number-of-sounds buttons let you pick
more than one — click 3 and 4 to get three- and four-sound
words together; Any clears them back to no limit. Type 0 in a letter box to
clear it back to any.
4 · Results. Vowel sounds are tinted (glued rimes in lilac). Click a word to drop it from the list; click it again, or use Restore all, to bring dropped words back. Copy list copies every matching word except the ones you’ve dropped, one per line. A very large result set shows only the first 2,000 words here to keep the page responsive — Copy list still copies them all.
Everything is remembered on this computer. Use Clear saved settings at the bottom to wipe your choices and start fresh.
1 · Word source
Any word listed here is dropped from the results, no matter which source you’re filtering.
2 · Sounds — start, middle & end
Pick the sounds you’ve taught. Every result here is a one-vowel word
— a beginning, one vowel, and an ending — and it shows only when all three parts use sounds
you’ve left selected. A column that stays fully selected means “anything goes”
in that spot. Switching a whole column off gives a special set: empty the start column
for words that begin with the vowel (at, eat, oak),
or empty the end column for words that end on the vowel (he,
day, cow). The vowel column always needs at least one sound. Everything starts
selected, so the whole list — including multi-syllable words like rabbit — shows
until you switch a sound off; after that, results are limited to one-vowel words. Once you’ve narrowed
the start sounds, words that open on a vowel (at, ant) are left
out by default — tick “Allow vowel-initial words” below to keep them.
A quick way to follow a structured-phonics scope & sequence — a common order for introducing letter-sounds. The top row selects everything taught through that group; the bottom row flips a single group on or off on top of your current choices (highlighted when fully on). Fine-tune any sound with the chips below.
This pattern is built automatically from the sounds you picked above. The chips do the real, sound-accurate filtering; this pattern is a handy copyable approximation — copy it to save or reuse this set later, and paste it back in to rebuild a similar list. You can also edit it by hand if you know regex (changing the sounds above will rewrite it).
3 · Narrow it down (optional)
4 · Results
Click a word to drop it from the list (click again to bring it back). Vowel sounds are tinted.
This tool remembers your choices on this computer. Use this to wipe them and start fresh.