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.
- Able
- Ache
- Acorn
- Acre
- Agent
- Ago
- Also
- April
- Apron
- Area
- Asia
- Auto
- Baby
- Basic
- Basis
- Be
- Beautiful
- Being
- Bicycle
- By
- Cargo
- China
- Climate
- Communicate
- Crazy
- Cry
- Demon
- Depot
- Diagram
- Dinosaur
- Echo
- Eclipse
- Ecology
- Egyptian
- Emission
- Emit
- Even
- Evening
- Evil
- Female
- Fly
- Fry
- Fuel
- Future
- Giant
- Go
- Gravy
- Hazy
- He
- Hello
- Hero
- Hi
- Human
- Humid
- Humor
- I
- Icy
- Idea
- Iodine
- Iowa
- Iris
- Irish
- Item
- January
- Lady
- Lazy
- Legal
- Lion
- Maybe
- Me
- Menu
- Meter
- Moment
- Museum
- Music
- Musician
- My
- Navy
- No
- Ocean
- She
- Shy
- Sly
- So
- Spider
- Spy
- Station
- Title
- Triangle
- Try
- Uniform
- Unique
- United
- Usual
- Volcano
- We
- Why
- Zebra
- 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.
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
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
