Skip to Main Content

E (head, said) Sound Word List with “ea” and “ai” Spellings

By Rodney Everson • Updated Aug 13th, 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 /e/ sound has two alternative spellings, ea, and ai, besides the usual e spelling.

Of the two alternative spellings, the "ai" spelling is only found in said among one-syllable words, so that word should just be treated as a sight word and the spelling memorized. Analogies with pay/paid and lay/laid are useful, but only to a point. The other spelling, "ea", occurs frequently enough to teach /e/ as one of the sounds of that digraph.

Of the 7,000 words in the database constructed from a popular children’s dictionary, 22 of them are one-syllable words in which the vowel sound /e/ is not spelled just "e".


Otr wordlists cover digital

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.
Copyright © 2024 OnTrack Reading Website design by Astuteo