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/f/ Sound Spelled UGH Word List

By Rodney Everson • Updated Jun 4th, 2023

OnTrack Reading Phonics Program

Teach your student the phonics advanced code in as little as 8 weeks with our 170-page workbook and instruction manual.

The /f/ sound has three common spellings, f, ff, and ph, and one unusual one, ugh.

The decision to teach "ugh" as representing the /f/ sound is discussed in some depth as a footnote on the page. It appears in only a small number of words, but attempting to explain those words has resulted in a lot of poor curriculum choices. The OnTrack Reading choice simplifies the phonics of four other digraphs, "ough", "ou", "au", and "gh". Given the small number of words involved, it is reasonable to treat "ugh" as a digraph for the /f/ sound in these words.

Of the 7,000 words in the database constructed from a popular children’s dictionary, eight of them are words with the /f/ sound spelled "ugh".

Note on the word divisions: Each word is divided into chunks determined by the unique and highly effective OnTrack Reading Multisyllable Method. The chunks are not syllables.

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Comprehensive Word Lists

Features over 100 word lists built from 7,000 words input from a children's dictionary. Lists are organized by vowel and consonant sounds and cover most common spellings. Useful in the classroom for building curriculum aids such as short stories that emphasize specific sounds and spellings. Multisyllable words are also included, chunked according to the method taught in the OnTrack Reading Advanced Code Phonics Workbook.
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