99 Open Syllable Words for Kids [PDF List & Worksheet]

Open syllable words, which contain a syllable that ends in a vowel, are an essential part of language learning for natives and non-natives. This page includes a list of open syllable words for teaching young children, along with examples and pictures.

List of 99 Open Syllable Words

The difference between open and closed syllable words is that an open syllable word contains one syllable that ends in a long vowel sound. In contrast, closed syllable words are words where the syllable has a short vowel sound followed by a consonant.

Before you teach closed syllable words to young children, it is essential that they also master open syllable words because they are an integral part of language acquisition and development.

An open syllable word can end in a vowel, such as “we” and “by”; however, longer words that contain more than one syllable can also be open syllables if one of the syllables finishes in a long consonant sound.

For example, the words “music” and “human” are both open syllable words because of the “mu” and “hu”, which both have a long vowel sound.

Here is a list of 99 open syllable words that can be taught to children ranging from 5 to 10 years old.

  1. Able
  2. Ache
  3. Acorn
  4. Acre
  5. Agent
  6. Ago
  7. Also
  8. April
  9. Apron
  10. Area
  11. Asia
  12. Auto
  13. Baby
  14. Basic
  15. Basis
  16. Be
  17. Beautiful
  18. Being
  19. Bicycle
  20. By
  21. Cargo
  22. China
  23. Climate
  24. Communicate
  25. Crazy
  26. Cry
  27. Demon
  28. Depot
  29. Diagram
  30. Dinosaur
  31. Echo
  32. Eclipse
  33. Ecology
  34. Egyptian
  35. Emission
  36. Emit
  37. Even
  38. Evening
  39. Evil
  40. Female
  41. Fly
  42. Fry
  43. Fuel
  44. Future
  45. Giant
  46. Go
  47. Gravy
  48. Hazy
  49. He
  50. Hello
  51. Hero
  52. Hi
  53. Human
  54. Humid
  55. Humor
  56. I
  57. Icy
  58. Idea
  59. Iodine
  60. Iowa
  61. Iris
  62. Irish
  63. Item
  64. January
  65. Lady
  66. Lazy
  67. Legal
  68. Lion
  69. Maybe
  70. Me
  71. Menu
  72. Meter
  73. Moment
  74. Museum
  75. Music
  76. Musician
  77. My
  78. Navy
  79. No
  80. Ocean
  81. She
  82. Shy
  83. Sly
  84. So
  85. Spider
  86. Spy
  87. Station
  88. Title
  89. Triangle
  90. Try
  91. Uniform
  92. Unique
  93. United
  94. Usual
  95. Volcano
  96. We
  97. Why
  98. Zebra
  99. Zero

We have further explained our top picks at the bottom of the article.

Open Syllable Words for 1st Grade

When children are in 1st grade or kindergarten, it is best to start them off with the most basic of the open syllable words, which are the ones that only contain one syllable.

After they have mastered the single-syllable words, they will find the two-syllable words easier to read and pronounce.

open syllable words

Here are the ten most important open syllable words for 1st graders:

  • Be
  • By
  • Cry
  • Go
  • Hi
  • I
  • Me
  • So
  • Try
  • We

Open Syllable Words for 2nd Grade               

As children start to get older and grasp their native tongue, it makes sense to introduce them to the slightly more difficult two-syllable words that contain an open syllable. These words are obviously more difficult to pronounce than single-syllable words because they require the connection of two sounds.

Here are some examples of ten open syllable words that can be taught to 2nd graders:

  • Baby
  • Basic
  • Hello
  • Lady
  • Lion
  • Maybe
  • Menu
  • Music
  • Zebra
  • Zero

Open Syllable Words for 3rd Grade

As children progress into 3rd grade, their ability to pronounce longer words improves, and they are more capable of pronouncing two and three-syllable words. Therefore, in 3rd grade, you should start teaching slightly more advanced open syllable words such as the ones listed below.

  • Acorn
  • Agent
  • Demon
  • Evil
  • Lazy
  • Legal
  • Meter
  • Moment
  • Navy
  • Usual

Open Syllable Words for 4th Grade

By 4th grade, most children are around ten years old. At this age, they can pronounce more complex words of two or three syllables and words that contain more intricate and complex letter combinations.

At this age, most children will be on the way to mastering the sounds of different vowels in English, and they should be able to read a word and pronounce it correctly without much assistance.

Therefore, when teaching 4th grade, you can start to include words such as:

  • Beautiful
  • Bicycle
  • Communicate
  • Museum
  • Musician
  • Ocean
  • Triangle
  • Uniform
  • Unique
  • Volcano