Open and Closed Syllable Worksheets

Welcome to our page all about open and closed syllable patterns! Here, you will learn the concept of identifying open and closed syllables and why this skill is important for young readers. You’ll also find some fun open and closed syllables worksheets to practice with your students.

An open syllable type plays off of a reader’s understanding of a closed syllable. We know a syllable is closed when it follows a certain pattern, such as consonant-vowel-consonant. This is also known as a CVC word, which is one of the first full word patterns that readers learn. For example, cat is a CVC word. An open syllable word follows a different pattern: consonant-vowel, or simply just a vowel. When a syllable is open, the vowel sound is long. A vowel by itself is sometimes considered a whole syllable. One example of a word that follows an open syllable pattern is the word me. The pattern is consonant-vowel. There is no final consonant to close this syllable, so the vowel sound is long and open.

Syllables can also be parts of larger words. For example, in the word music, we find both an open syllable, mu, and a closed syllable, sic. Open syllables are important when students begin breaking multi-syllabic words into smaller parts to decode them. Open syllables are one of the most common long vowel syllable types.

There are many activities you can use to build syllable recognition, reading and writing skills at home. The following activity focuses on identifying open and close syllables. First, say or write a closed or open syllable. Then ask students to think about whether this syllable is open or closed. Students should also tell if the vowel is long or short. Finally, students can read the syllable for an extension of this activity. As students read and identify closed and open syllables, have them put them together to form multi-syllabic words.

Here’s another activity that can be modified to reinforce many different phonic skills! This activity is focuses on finding the missing sound. First, say or write a CVC word with a missing vowel. For example, write c_t instead of cat. Have students guess the missing letter. You could use a 20 questions format for this activity. For example, you could say “the word I’m thinking of tells you the size of something”. Students should guess the word to the clue and then guess missing letter. Then, write or orally spell out the word b-i-g or big. We hope this was a helpful introduction to open and closed syllables. Thanks for learning with us!