listbeeShort vowels
Short o words
Short o lists start with simple CVC words such as hot and dog, then add blends and the -ck ending before moving to two-syllable words.
- Sound
- /ŏ/ as in hot
- Usually taught
- Kindergarten–1st grade
- Words on this page
- 38 in 3 lists
Short o words: word lists
Practice a list online (each word is read aloud), or open it in the worksheet maker to print a test, word search, or look-cover-write-check sheet.
CVC words
15 words- hot
- pot
- dot
- not
- log
- dog
- fog
- hop
- mop
- top
- box
- fox
- job
- nod
- mom
Short o with blends
15 words- stop
- spot
- drop
- shop
- chop
- frog
- clock
- block
- sock
- rock
- pond
- lost
- soft
- plot
- trot
Challenge words
8 words- rocket
- bottom
- problem
- lobster
- blossom
- cotton
- robin
How the pattern works
Short o says /ŏ/ as in hot. In many American accents, words like dog, log and soft have a slightly different vowel, but they are still spelled with a single o.
Short o often comes before -ck (sock, clock) and before blends at the end of a word (pond, soft).
Common mistakes
- Writing a for o (hat for hot), especially in accents where the two vowels sound similar.
- Writing u for o in words like frog and from.
- Forgetting the c in -ck: sock, rock, clock.
Practice ideas
- Play “hop the vowel”: change the o to another short vowel and read the new word (hot → hit → hat).
- Sort words that end in a single consonant from words that end in a blend or -ck.
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