EA Words ⭐ Free Phonics Worksheets

Learning EA Phonics Words

We usually use the long vowel sound for the EA words. That's why it is first, it's the more usual sound of the EA phonogram. If you're working with very young children simply work with a few representative words till they get the idea that there are other sounds that EA can make. Often enough they'll make their own discoveries when one of their words does not sound right when they are reading out loud.

The words are printed in alphabetical order down the columns on the worksheets; so, in a way, they're for higher levels of phonics because the different sounds in the words are mixed.

The dictation lists below have the words sorted by sound, so you can use them to focus on each sound if you would like the children to practice one sound at a time. The dictation sentences are handy for class preparation.

1. K123 Large Font EA Worksheets - K-2, print 2-up for high school.
2. Third Grade Small Font EA Worksheets - Grades 3-6+.

Choose the sizes that work for your children. It's handy to have the different sizes to teach phonics to several ages of children.

If you use Orton/Gillingham, Orton/Spalding, and Orton/Ingraham phonics books, these practice worksheets will help your children review saying the three phonemes while writing the correct grapheme.

Is There A Phonics EE EA Rule?

There is no phonics EE EA rule. 

In the years I've been teaching, I haven't found a published spelling rule for EE and EA; yet by years of experience I have found a pattern in English where EA is often used when there's man or animal involved as with meet and meat, week and weak.  

EA seems to indicate flesh or corporal elements way more often than EE does. Otherwise I have not found a rule for using EE or EA.

EE does seem to be the most frequently used phonogram. It is certainly the first one in the learning order, which is how the old schools chose the order in which sounds would be taught. This also makes another clue that we usually use EE.

EE is pretty easy to learn since it only has one sound. Yes, in some parts of England and Australia they really do say bEEn with the long vowel sound.

Here are my personal phonics rules for EE. :-)

1. For the teacher: Don't teach EE and EA together on the first lesson. 
2. We usually use EE for the two letter phonogram or grapheme. The phonics programs have proven that. It's why EE is taught first behind SH in the Spalding phonograms learning order list.
3. We often use EA when there are people or animals involved.
4. If an English word starts with the long vowel /E/ sound, it is usually an EA word. The main base word that starts with EE is eel.

If you're these worksheets for ESL phonics worksheets, try teaching the phonograms the way that the children pronounce the sounds in their first language. 

For some ESL learners the first EA phoneme (sound) is pronounced like /i/ and the pronunciation of the third EA phoneme sounds like /e/. 'Just an idea.

You can emphasize the sounds if you find poems that use the different spellings so that kids can see the letters and hear the rhyming. This is awesome one-on-one phonetics practice for parents who homeschool elementary phonics.

Make a point to show that the letter pattern is CVVC where it is not a silent final E that makes the vowels say their long vowel sounds.

Many programs say in reference to the silent letters that "The first one does the talking and the second one does the walking." That doesn't work entirely here. For the second sound of EA, the EA digraph says the short vowel sound of the first letter, and in the third sound of EA "The second one does the talking".

There are no blends here. Each sound simply says the long vowel E, the short vowel E, or the long vowel A. Do not try to blend two sounds as the two letters make one sound. It's why it's called a digraph: two letters.

Teaching Phonics: Dictation List of EA Words

As you're teaching the phonogram EA, dictate the following words for your children to write into their notebooks or have your kids use their own paper. The main thing is to have practice writing the EA words. The EA worksheets above are a nice homework lesson or drill. 

I include some simple sentences below to help you teach the vocabulary of each word you dictate.

You can leave this page open for dictation during class.

Lists of EA Words With Sentences

EA has three sounds ee/e/ay. 

Note that a few of these EA words can be spelled alike, yet use different sounds as with "lead the horse to water" (which uses the first sound) and "the lead pipe was heavy" (which uses the second sound). 

You can make two and three syllable EA phonics words by adding different prefixes and suffixes to some of the words: teach, teacher, teaches, teaching, teachable. Your children may love word building. It's fun to add beginnings and endings to words to make them longer!

Interactive Phonics Worksheets

Print these PDF phonics activities or store them in a file for your child's phonics lessons and exercises. Whether they are reading the lists, writing the words, or typing the words, they'll have excellent phonics practice. 

Learn how PrintNPractice PDFs are printable interactive worksheets here.

How To Teach Phonics With More Free Phonics Worksheets

You'll find more than forty kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade phonics worksheets, phonics books, activities, and videos on our main phonics page.

These worksheets are available in both manuscript and cursive worksheets:

• Spelling Worksheets
• Grammar Worksheets
• A Child's Garden of Verses - Poetry and handwriting printable worksheets.

Thank you for sharing with your favorite teachers, parents, and homeschool families!

~Mary

Buy Our Phonics Worksheets In Bundles: Phonics, Spelling, And Reading

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BONUS: It includes our cursive writing worksheets.

Homeschool worksheets for spelling practice and Robert Louis Stevenson's poetry handwriting worksheets make great ESL printable worksheets. Enjoy!

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Phonics Books

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