listbeeShort vowels
Short u words
Short u completes the set of short vowels. These lists cover CVC words, blends, digraphs, and two-syllable words with double consonants.
- Sound
- /ŭ/ as in cup
- Usually taught
- Kindergarten–1st grade
- Words on this page
- 38 in 3 lists
Short u 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- cup
- pup
- sun
- run
- fun
- bus
- cut
- hut
- nut
- bug
- hug
- rug
- mud
- tub
- gum
Short u with blends and digraphs
15 words- drum
- plum
- jump
- bump
- dust
- must
- trust
- duck
- truck
- luck
- much
- such
- shut
- brush
- crust
Challenge words
8 words- summer
- under
- puppy
- butter
- number
- button
- muffin
- hundred
How the pattern works
Short u says /ŭ/ as in cup. It is the same sound we make in the middle of many unstressed syllables, which is why it shows up everywhere in English.
Some very common words make the short u sound with an o instead: come, some, love, mother, done. Treat those as heart words to learn by sight.
Common mistakes
- Writing o for u in words like cup and drum.
- Spelling heart words with u: “sum” for some, “cum” for come.
- Leaving out one letter of a double consonant: summer, butter, button, muffin.
Practice ideas
- Make rhyming families: -ug (bug, hug, rug), -un (sun, run, fun), -ump (jump, bump).
- Spell summer as sum + mer, one syllable at a time.
Practicing a list from school?
Paste your child’s exact words to make listening practice and printables in seconds.