Phonemic Awareness Worksheets

Welcome to our main page for phonemic awareness worksheets! Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, differentiate, and say the sounds of the English language. Fun fact: there are 44 different sounds, or phonemes, in English, which is more than the letters of the alphabet! To be a master of phonemic awareness, learners need to be able to identify all the sounds that a letter makes. For example, the letter C can make more than one sound: /s/ and /ck/. Phonemes can also be represented by two letters together. For example, the letters c and h make the sound /ch/ when put together. After mastering all 44 sounds, learners need to be able to listen for and differentiate sounds and words. Learners should be able to tell the beginning sounds, middle, and end sounds in the word cat.

Phonemic awareness is crucial in mastering the skills needed to become a reader. Identifying letter sounds can be even more important than knowing the name of each letter! Though we usually focus on letter names, we should really be starting with letter sounds when first teaching the alphabet. When reading, we don’t need to know the names of each letter, but we do need to know the sounds each letter makes.

If you want to increase an early reader’s ability to identify and form phonemes, try this activity! You can try it with or without a paper and pencil. First, say a word to your learner. Tip: start with a smaller word using only two or three sounds, such as mat, hat, cat, cup, up, run, chick, hill, bag, etc. Have your student repeat the word and then pull apart the sounds they hear. For a hands on or visual approach, try writing three letter words on sticky notes with one letter on each sticky note. Set up the word and have your students pull down each individual letter as they say the sound out loud.

Phonemic Awareness Worksheets

Example Worksheets