Short E CVC Words: 35 Words (Bed, Pen, Hen) + Word Family Charts
Six word family charts, 35 real short e words (bed, pen, hen), and read-together games that turn blending into a chart-building adventure.
Short e CVC words like bed, pen and hen are three-letter words where the middle vowel says "eh." Build word family charts together — -ed, -en, -et, -eg, -em, -ep — then read down each chart, cover letters to mix and match, and play chart detective. Fifteen minutes a day, one or two charts at a time.
The short version
- All 35 verified against a pronunciation dictionary: 33 true three-letter CVC words plus 2 flagged stretch words (sled, shed).
- The method is build-a-chart: you write the ending, your child adds the beginnings, then read down, mix, match, and play detective.
- Six families: -ed (7), -en (8), -et (11), -eg (4), -em (2), -ep (3).
- One or two charts per session; starred words get a second pass.
- Age
- Ages 5–6
- Prep
- 5 min
- Play time
- 15 min
- Mess
- None
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Where
- Indoor
Why kids love this
Charts feel like building something, not doing a worksheet. Your child writes the words with you, reads them top to bottom like a scoreboard, then covers letters up and guesses like a detective.
What you'll need
- 4–6 large sheets of paper (one per family)
- Markers in two colors
- Small slips of paper or index cards (35) for word cards
- Sticky notes for the mix-and-match game
- A cardboard tube (paper-towel roll) as an "echo microphone"
- Star stickers
Before you start
1. Write one family ending at the top of each sheet in a color: -ed, -en, -et, -eg, -em, -ep. 2. Write the 35 word cards: bed, red, fed, wed, led, sled, shed, pen, hen, ten, men, den, fen, wen, yen, get, pet, wet, net, let, met, vet, set, bet, jet, yet, leg, peg, beg, keg, gem, hem, pep, rep, yep. 3. Keep the cards face down until each chart is being built. What are short e CVC words? Short e CVC words are three-letter words where the middle vowel says "eh," like the sigh in "bed." Every letter keeps its usual sound, so once a child hears that "eh," they can sound the whole word out.
How to do it
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Warm up the "eh" with the echo microphone. Hand your child the cardboard tube and make the tired-sigh sound together: "ehhh." Take turns saying pairs into the tube — bed/red, pen/hen, get/wet — and ask, "Which sound do they share?"
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Build the -ed chart together. Write -ed in one color down the left side of the sheet, then add the first letters one at a time in the other color: bed, red, fed, wed, led. Read each word the moment it lands, then add the stretch words: sled, shed.
-
Read down the chart, top to bottom. Slide a finger down the column while your child reads each word aloud. Go slow the first time, then race the finger down a second time.
-
Play mix-and-match with a sticky note. Cover the first letter of a word with a sticky note and ask, "What could this be? It ends in -ed!" Let your child guess from the chart, then lift the note to check. Wrong guesses prove they are thinking, not memorizing.
-
Build the -en chart — your child leads. Your child picks the first letters: pen, hen, ten, men, den, fen, wen, yen. For fen ("a swampy marsh") and yen (Japanese money), give a one-sentence meaning and move on.
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Play chart detective. Your child closes their eyes while you lift one word card off the chart. They open their eyes, spot the gap, and read the missing word. Three rounds, then swap roles.
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Finish the remaining charts: -et, -eg, -em, -ep. The -et chart is the big one: get, pet, wet, net, let, met, vet, set, bet, jet, yet. Then -eg (leg, peg, beg, keg) and the twins -em (gem, hem) and -ep (pep, rep, yep).
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Build sentences across two charts. Point to a word on the -en chart and one on the -et chart, and read a real sentence together: "The hen met the vet." Your child is now reading in context — the whole point of phonics.
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Run the chart race. Pick one chart and read it down together as fast as you can without mistakes. Star any word that wobbles, then read just the starred words three times.
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Go on a word hunt, then celebrate. Open a favorite picture book and hunt for chart words — "bed" in a bedtime book, "red" on any page. Every find earns a star on the chart.
Make it easier
Do one chart per day. The -ed chart alone is a complete first session. Build the chart for them and let them only read it down. If blending stalls, play the echo-microphone game with spoken words only for a week.
Make it harder
Mix cards from two charts (pen, pet, peg) so your child reads the whole word, not just the pattern.
Cover the whole word, show only the ending, and let them guess from a spoken clue. When all 35 are easy, try the full CVC words list — all five short vowels. Race the two charts against each other with short a CVC words. Once charts feel easy, alien words phonics practice tests whether your child is really decoding, not just remembering chart words.
Other ways to play it
- Floor chart: Tape the paper to the floor and let your child hop down the column, reading one word per hop.
- Pocket chart: stand the chart in a dish rack like a restaurant menu.
- Sibling teacher: an older sibling builds the chart while your five-year-old reads.
How it changes by age
- For 5–6-year-olds who know their letter sounds and can hear the middle sound in spoken words. Short e is trickier to hear than short a, so expect a week or two of short daily sessions. If letter sounds are still wobbly, start with beginning sounds activities for preschool before the -ed chart.
What they're learning
Blending with a subtler vowel, onset-rime awareness (bed, red and fed share an ending), print tracking down a column, and the discovery that changing one letter changes the word. For the full sequence these first steps fit into, see how to teach your child to read.
Clearing up
Tape finished charts to the wall — seeing them invites re-reading all week. Stack word cards by family with a rubber band.
Questions parents ask
How do I teach short e CVC words to my 5-year-old?
Why is short e harder to learn than short a?
How many short e words should my kindergartner know?
Should I teach all six short-e word families at once?
What comes after short e CVC words?
My child guesses from the ending instead of reading the whole word — is that bad?
If blending still feels new, our blending sounds activities build the oral blending these charts need.
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