Tricky Ending Sounds Worksheets

These tricky ending sounds worksheets are an way to explore those ending sound spellings that often trip up spellers.

These are three sample pages from our LOW PREP Spelling Tricky Sounds Pack.

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What are the Tricky Ending Sounds?

Once learners have a firm grasp of short vowels and long vowels, there are some tricky ending sounds that spellers need to learn.

The bad news about these final spellings is that they sound the SAME, but their spellings are DIFFERENT.

The good news is they follow predictable phonics pattern {as do most words} that can help learners get a grasp. For example, -dge and -ge sound the same. The patterns -tch and -ch sound the same. So do the patterns of -ck, -ke, and -k.

So how do learners know which way to spell them? There are some generalizations that spellers can learn to help them out.

SPELLING -CK, -KE and -K – This spelling feature is thoroughly explained in my post Spelling the K Sound. It also comes with free, printable charts and songs to help learners remember those sounds!

SPELLING -TCH and -CH – Typically, -TCH comes after a single vowel {as in watch} or short vowel sound like catch or witch. -CH usually comes after a word with a vowel team {like pouch or speech} and a word with a consonant before the CH {such as lunch or inch.} There are a few single syllable words that don’t fit this logic, but they are very few. Some include rich, such, much, and which.

SPELLING -DGE and -GE – Typically, -DGE comes after a single short vowel, as in badge or judge. -GE comes after a single long vowel, like cage or huge. It also comes after a word with a consonant before the GE, as in lunge or hinge.

Interactive pages are included in the Tricky Ending Sounds Pack to help spellers understand these.