Article Word Sorts for A and AN

Be sure download our FREE Article Word Sorts for a and an at the END of this post!

Articles a and an can be a bit confusing. I see questions often about them, so I thought I’d talk about them today as well as share a freebie for your learners.

You might also like our Parts of Speech Posters and Parts of Speech Word Sorts.

 

What are Articles?

Articles are a type of adjective telling if a noun is definite or indefinite. The three articles in the English language are a, an, and the.

• Definite article: the boy, the lamp
• Indefinite articles: a dog, an orange*

What Makes Articles A and AN so Confusing?

Okay, here’s the deal: Many people think that the article a comes before words that starts with a consonant {i.e. a door, a window}, and the article an comes before words that starts with a vowel {i.e. an orange, an ice cream cone}.

Right? Well, that works most of the time, but that isn’t the whole story about articles a and an.

Here’s the truth: The article a comes before words beginning with a consonant SOUND. The article an comes before words beginning with a vowel SOUND.

See the difference? The difference is we are listening for beginning SOUNDS, not just looking at the beginning letters.

 

Let’s look at a couple of examples so you can try it out for yourself:
1. a unicorn or an unicorn?
2. a book or an book?
3. a hour or an hour?
4. an x-ray or a x-ray?

Answers:
1. a unicorn – Even though unicorn starts with the vowel u, it makes the consonant sound of beginning y {YOO-Nih-KORN}
2. a book – The b makes its consonant sound, so a is our article
3. an hour – Again, we’re listening for the first letter’s SOUND. And even though hour starts with a consonant, the h is silent. So hour starts with a vowel sound: ou {OUR}. Therefore, we use an before it.
4. an x-ray – While it might be tempting to think that x-ray starts with an x sound, it actually starts with the short e sound. When you stretch it out, it sounds like this: /eh-k-s/. This means x-ray needs an before it since it starts with a vowel sound.

Clear as mud now?

 

Articles Word Sorts for A and AN

To help your learners with this concept, I’m sharing these free articles a and an word sorts with you today!

The first sort has easier phonics-based words with two tricky words . The second sort has multisyllable words as well as more tricky words where learners really have to think about the SOUND of the first letter.

 

Also included in the freebie are:

• Recording page where learners can write sentences with six of the words from their sort {great as an accountability piece you can check}
• Answer Keys to the sorts {just in case you wonder about any of the words}

 

Download this freebie below:

 

 

Enjoy teaching!
~Becky