Free Printable Short U CVC Words Worksheets

These free printable short U CVC activity printables are perfect for helping kindergarten and pre-k students sound out words as they explore learning to read. This set has two short U CVC word worksheets with 12 different vocabulary words. Each page has an easy word search, a word bank, and space to practice writing each word. I hope your little learner enjoys this no-prep CVC word activity!

A preview of two short U CVC word worksheets with a word bank, six images, and a word search.

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Table of Contents

What are CVC words?

CVC words are three letter words spelled with a consonant, a vowel, and a consonant. They are simple and are usually some of the first words a child learns how to read. (Some non-CVC words like "a," "me," and "I" are also common first words.)

I teach the alphabet phonetically and teach short vowel sounds first because short vowel sounds are more common in English than long vowels. Long vowel sounds "say their name" like the u in "cube" and "mule."

CVC words are featured prominently in the popular BOB Books series. If you have a child who's learned most of their letters and is ready to start sounding out words, I high recommend the BOB Book series. My 4.5 year old was beaming with joy when she figured out she could sound out and recognize the words in her first BOB Books!

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There are 12 short u CVC words featured in these worksheets:

The word search is easy so even preschool and kindergarten children can use it. Words are only written in normal reading order from left to right. Words are not hidden diagonally or backwards.

How to use this CVC word activity

Although this activity is designed as a printable, the PDF can also be used on a tablet with a note-taking app or with the markup feature.

If your child hasn't done a word search before, they may need some help and an explanation. My daughter (4.5 at the time of writing) caught on remarkably quickly. She prefers to circle each letter individually.

A preview of two short U CVC word worksheets with a word bank, six images, and a word search. The top sheet has "bug" and "rub" circled

It's easy to make these short U worksheets reusable. Place each printed page in a secure page protector or dry erase pocket. We like to use heavy duty, "secure" page protectors. They are easy to keep tidy in a 3 ring binder and they have a tab to keep the pages from accidentally sliding out.

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We love our Stabilo Woody 3 in 1 pencils and use them instead of dry erase markers. They don't have ink so they don't smell and they're easy to wash off. Because they don't have ink, there are no stinky fumes. They are easy to wash off hands, tables, clothes, walls, etc. Stabilo Woodies color and write very well on page protectors and laminated pages. You can see a video of the Woodies in action in this post with dinosaur coloring pages.

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Free printable short U CVC worksheets download area

These short U CVC worksheets are licensed for personal and single classroom use. You are not licensed to redistribute the files to other parents/teachers for use with their children/students. Instead, please refer them to this page so they can download their own copy.

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I hope you enjoy using this short letter U CVC activity! Make sure to check out these additional literacy resources while you're here on The Artisan Life:

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