Oo Digraph Words and Sounds

Oo digraph examples, word lists, free worksheets and games for phonics teaching.

Oo Digraph Sounds

The ‘oo’ digraph is a common grapheme in written English and it’s found in a number of high-frequency words such as look, took, good, book, too, food and school.

The most common sound associated with the digraph is found in words such as food, moon and soon.

This phoneme is represented by the symbol /oo/ in popular phonics programmes such as Jolly Phonics and Letters and sounds and it is sometimes described as the ‘long oo’ sound.  The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for this sound is or just u without the two dots.

A number of other letter combinations can also represent the sound.  For example, ew, ue, u-e, o, ou, ough, o-e, and u in the words, flew, glue, rude, to, you, through, move and flu.

The Sounds American video below explains how to pronounce this phoneme in a variety of words:

The second most frequent sound represented by ‘oo’ is found in words such as look, book, good and took.  This phoneme is usually represented by the symbol /oo/ in popular phonics programmes such as Jolly Phonics and Letters and sounds and it is sometimes described as the ‘short oo’ sound.  The symbol for ‘short oo’ looks the same as the symbol for ‘long oo’, but long oo is usually printed in bold font whereas short oo isn’t.  The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for this sound is ʊ.

A number of other letter combinations can also represent the ʊ sound.  For example, u and oul in the words, full and would.

The Sounds American video below explains how to pronounce this phoneme in a variety of words:

Accent variations:  In some regions in England, people say a few words such as book and look with the /oo/ sound that’s pronounced in words like moon and soon.

In a small number of words such as blood and flood, the oo digraph is pronounced with the /u/ (ʌ IPA) sound that’s used in words such as duck.

However, many people from the north of England do not pronounce the phoneme /u/ (ʌ) in words, and for them, blood and flood would be spoken with the /oo/ (ʊ) sound, so they would rhyme with good, and wood.

In the word ‘brooch’, the oo digraph represents the /oa/ (əʊ or IPA) sound that’s normally pronounced in words like coach and soap.  This is a very rare correspondence for this digraph and we can’t think of any other common words where it is used.

There are also a few words where oo doesn’t act as a digraph because it represents 2 separate sounds.  Examples include cooperative and zoology.

Also, oo doesn’t act as a digraph in words where oo is followed by the letter r, as in ‘door’, ‘floor’ etc.  The highlighted letters act as a trigraph in these words.

Teaching the Oo Digraph

Since the digraph is common in children’s literature, it makes sense to teach it quite early in a phonics programme.

However, it’s best to wait until children can recognise individual letters and say the sounds they represent accurately and fluently. 

It’s also helpful if children are able to blend and segment simple words such as CVC words and other one-syllable words before digraphs are taught.

The oo digraph is taught in phase 3 of the Letters and Sounds phonics programme which is broadly followed in many schools in England.  This phase starts in the second half of the first term in reception when children are aged between 4 and 5 years old.

Introduce the digraph by showing children how to decode and blend some simple examples of words from the word list below and then get them to read some words for you.

Point out that there is more than one sound for the digraph and compare words with the different sounds to highlight this.

In addition to practising reading the words, they should also practise spelling them. 

If children have trouble doing this, show them how to make the words with alphabet cards.  Say the sounds as you put the cards down then shuffle the cards and ask them to make up the word again. 

When you are demonstrating spelling these words with alphabet cards, put the two digraph letters down at the same time as you say the sound just once.

See our articles on teaching digraphs and spelling with phonics for more guidance.

You can also use some online resources to provide variety.  For example, Reading Bear has several presentations that include ‘oo words’ in the purple section.  This section includes words with the 2 most common sounds for the digraph.

reading bear oo words

The Little Learner’s video below is useful to show children how to sound out and blend some simple words containing this digraph…

And the videos below should also appeal to young children as the popular Mr Thorne teaches Geraldine the giraffe about words with the ‘oo’ digraph:

Oo Digraph Word List

We’ve split the lists into different sound categories in alphabetical order to help you locate words you might want to use with your students. 

Initially, it can help to use words that students are familiar with, but as they get more proficient, it’s good to introduce some new words to expand their vocabulary and refine their decoding skills.

Click on the following link or the image below to download a free printable pdf version of this word list.

Oo Digraph Word ListWords containing the ‘long oo’ sound, /oo/ (uː), as in moon:

One-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and no other digraphs:

Bloom, boo, boom, boon, boost, boot, brood, broom, coo, cool, coop, coot, drool, droop, food, fool, gloom, gloop, goo, goof, goon, groom, hoof, hoop, hoot, loo, loom, loon, loop, loot, moo, mood, moon, moot, noon, ooh, oops, ooze, poo, pool, poop, roo, roof, room, roost, root, scoop, scoot, snood, snoop, soon, spoof, spook, spool, spoon, stool, stoop, swoon, tool, toot, troop, vroom, woo, zoo, zoom.

One-syllable words with other digraphs or some irregular spelling patterns:

Booed, booth, booze, goose, loose, moose, noose, pooch, pooh, shoo, shoot, sooth, tooth.

Two or more syllable words – may contain other digraphs:

Achoo, aloof, baboon, balloon, bamboo, cartoon, cocoon, foolish, hoo-ha, igloo, kangaroo, monsoon, mushroom, noodles, racoon, shampoo, snooker, taboo, tattoo, woozy.

 

Words contining the ‘short oo’ sound, /oo/ (ʊ), as in took:

One-syllable words with regular spelling patterns and no other digraphs:

Book, brook, cook, crook, foot, good, hood, hook, look, nook, poof, rook, soot, stood, took, wood, woof, wool.

One-syllable words with other digraphs or some irregular spelling patterns:

Shook.

Two or more syllable words – may contain other digraphs:

Afoot, cooker, cookie, ebook, hoodie/hoody, hooray, outlook, wooden.

 

Words where the oo digraph represents alternative sounds (see oo digraph sounds above):

Blood, flood, brooch.

Words where oo doesn’t act as a digraph

Cooperative, zoology.

Also, words where oo is followed by the letter r as in door, floor etc.  The highlighted letters act as a trigraph in these words.

 

Pseudo-words Containing the oo Digraph:

Bloop, Coof, Doob, Foo, Foos, Jook, Mook, Noo, Oof, Oot, Pood, Poon, Rood.

With some of these words, either of the 2 main sounds for the digraph could be an acceptable pronunciation. 

Pseudo-words are sometimes described as non-words or nonsense words and they’re used in some phonics programmes and in the UK Phonics Screening Check

These words are designed to assess whether children are capable of decoding words that are unfamiliar to them. 

Normally, a pseudo-word will be presented next to an image of a monster or an alien, and the child is told that the word represents the creature’s name.  The examples below are from the 2017 phonics screening check.

pseudo words

You could use some of the pseudo-words in our list as practice words for a screening check or as part of a less formal assessment of a child’s decoding ability. 

Some of the words in the list might have a real meaning in some regions, groups, or sub-cultures, but they will be unfamiliar to most children so can be used alongside genuine pseudo-words.

Oo Digraph Worksheets

We’ve created the following worksheets that you to download for free.  Click on the headings or the images below to access these resources.

Find the Oo Words

Children need to decide which pictures represent words that contain the oo digraph.  They can also try to spell the words.  We’ve also created a PowerPoint version of this resource if you want to display it to a class. 

Find the oo wordsFill in the Missing Oo Words

Each of the sentences on the worksheet has a word missing that contains the ‘oo’ digraph. Children need to fill in the missing word to complete each sentence. We’ve also created a PowerPoint version of this resource if you want to display it to a class. 

Find the oo wordsCircle the Vowel Digraph oo, ou, ow

 Circle or write in the digraph that gives the correct spelling for each picture.

Circle the vowel digraph oo, ou, ow
Circle the digraph that matches the correct spelling of the vowel in each word.

Oo Digraph Phonics Games

The spellzone website has some free games using words containing the oo digraph.  They also have a variety of other games that require you to sign up and pay a subscription, but they do offer a free trial.

Click on the following link for the spellzone games:

The SplashLearn website also has some activities for practising blending and spelling oo words.  You have to sign up to access all the activities but it’s free to try it.

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