Phonics word list

Oa words

In short

Oa is a vowel team that spells long o, /ō/, as in boat, road and soap. It almost always sits in the middle of a word, before a consonant. Our checked list has 177 words where oa says /ō/.

At a glance

Words in our list: 177
By syllables: one syllable: 78 · two syllables: 87 · three or more syllables: 12
Taught in: Lesson 86 in the sequence

Oa words, most common first

Spelling units show how each word breaks into the letters that spell one sound; a_e is a vowel and silent e working together. Readable after is the first lesson where a student can sound out the whole word.

One syllable

The 60 most common of 78 words. 18 more are in our list.

One syllable
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
boat	b·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
load	l·oa·d	1	Lesson 86
loan	l·oa·n	1	Lesson 86
road	r·oa·d	1	Lesson 86
float	f·l·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
loads	l·oa·d·s	1	Lesson 86
floats	f·l·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
coal	c·oa·l	1	Lesson 86
coat	c·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
foam	f·oa·m	1	Lesson 86
goal	g·oa·l	1	Lesson 86
goat	g·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
moan	m·oa·n	1	Lesson 86
soap	s·oa·p	1	Lesson 86
toad	t·oa·d	1	Lesson 86
boats	b·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
coach	c·oa·ch	1	Lesson 86
coast	c·oa·s·t	1	Lesson 86
coats	c·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
goals	g·oa·l·s	1	Lesson 86
groan	g·r·oa·n	1	Lesson 86
loans	l·oa·n·s	1	Lesson 86
moans	m·oa·n·s	1	Lesson 86
roads	r·oa·d·s	1	Lesson 86
toast	t·oa·s·t	1	Lesson 86
moaned	m·oa·n·ed	1	Lesson 86
throat	th·r·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
throats	th·r·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
oak	oa·k	1	Lesson 86
coax	c·oa·x	1	Lesson 86
foal	f·oa·l	1	Lesson 86
goad	g·oa·d	1	Lesson 86
hoax	h·oa·x	1	Lesson 86
loaf	l·oa·f	1	Lesson 86
loam	l·oa·m	1	Lesson 86
moat	m·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
oaks	oa·k·s	1	Lesson 86
oath	oa·th	1	Lesson 86
roam	r·oa·m	1	Lesson 86
soak	s·oa·k	1	Lesson 86
whoa	wh·oa	1	Lesson 86
boast	b·oa·s·t	1	Lesson 86
cloak	c·l·oa·k	1	Lesson 86
coals	c·oa·l·s	1	Lesson 86
croak	c·r·oa·k	1	Lesson 86
foams	f·oa·m·s	1	Lesson 86
gloat	g·l·oa·t	1	Lesson 86
goats	g·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
loafs	l·oa·f·s	1	Lesson 86
loath	l·oa·th	1	Lesson 86
moats	m·oa·t·s	1	Lesson 86
oaths	oa·th·s	1	Lesson 86
poach	p·oa·ch	1	Lesson 86
roach	r·oa·ch	1	Lesson 86
roams	r·oa·m·s	1	Lesson 86
roast	r·oa·s·t	1	Lesson 86
soaks	s·oa·k·s	1	Lesson 86
soaps	s·oa·p·s	1	Lesson 86
toads	t·oa·d·s	1	Lesson 86
boasts	b·oa·s·t·s	1	Lesson 86

Two syllables

The 60 most common of 87 words. 27 more are in our list.

Two syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
loaded	l·oa·d·ed	2	Lesson 86
floated	f·l·oa·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
loading	l·oa·d·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
approach	a·pp·r·oa·ch	2	Lesson 86
floating	f·l·oa·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
loader	l·oa·d·er	2	Lesson 86
unload	u·n·l·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
moaning	m·oa·n·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
railroad	r·ai·l·r·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
workload	w·or·k·l·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
crossroad	c·r·o·ss·r·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
approached	a·pp·r·oa·ch·ed	2	Lesson 86
crossroads	c·r·o·ss·r·oa·d·s	2	Lesson 86
foamy	f·oa·m·y	2	Lesson 86
soapy	s·oa·p·y	2	Lesson 86
boated	b·oa·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
coated	c·oa·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
coaxes	c·oa·x·es	2	Lesson 86
goaded	g·oa·d·ed	2	Lesson 86
hoaxes	h·oa·x·es	2	Lesson 86
loafer	l·oa·f·er	2	Lesson 86
reload	r·e·l·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
upload	u·p·l·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
boasted	b·oa·s·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
boating	b·oa·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
coaches	c·oa·ch·es	2	Lesson 86
coasted	c·oa·s·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
coaster	c·oa·s·t·er	2	Lesson 86
coating	c·oa·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
coaxing	c·oa·x·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
foaling	f·oa·l·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
foaming	f·oa·m·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
gloated	g·l·oa·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
goading	g·oa·d·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
loafers	l·oa·f·er·s	2	Lesson 86
loaning	l·oa·n·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
payload	p·ay·l·oa·d	2	Lesson 86
poacher	p·oa·ch·er	2	Lesson 86
reloads	r·e·l·oa·d·s	2	Lesson 86
roaches	r·oa·ch·es	2	Lesson 86
roaming	r·oa·m·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
roasted	r·oa·s·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
rowboat	r·ow·b·oa·t	2	Lesson 86
soaking	s·oa·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
toasted	t·oa·s·t·ed	2	Lesson 86
toaster	t·oa·s·t·er	2	Lesson 86
unloads	u·n·l·oa·d·s	2	Lesson 86
boastful	b·oa·s·t·f·u·l	2	Lesson 86
boasting	b·oa·s·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
broaches	b·r·oa·ch·es	2	Lesson 86
charcoal	ch·ar·c·oa·l	2	Lesson 86
cloaking	c·l·oa·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
coaching	c·oa·ch·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
coasters	c·oa·s·t·er·s	2	Lesson 86
coasting	c·oa·s·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
croaking	c·r·oa·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
gloating	g·l·oa·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
groaning	g·r·oa·n·i·ng	2	Lesson 86
lifeboat	l·i_e·f·b·oa·t	2	Lesson 86
loathing	l·oa·th·i·ng	2	Lesson 86

Three or more syllables

12 words, most common first.

Three or more syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
overload	o·v·er·l·oa·d	3	Lesson 86
overloads	o·v·er·l·oa·d·s	3	Lesson 86
approaches	a·pp·r·oa·ch·es	3	Lesson 86
approaching	a·pp·r·oa·ch·i·ng	3	Lesson 86
overloaded	o·v·er·l·oa·d·ed	4	Lesson 86
overloading	o·v·er·l·oa·d·i·ng	4	Lesson 86
reloaded	r·e·l·oa·d·ed	3	Lesson 86
unloaded	u·n·l·oa·d·ed	3	Lesson 86
unloading	u·n·l·oa·d·i·ng	3	Lesson 86
railroaded	r·ai·l·r·oa·d·ed	3	Lesson 86
railroading	r·ai·l·r·oa·d·i·ng	3	Lesson 86
approachable	a·pp·r·oa·ch·a·b·le	4	Lesson 86

When do these words become readable?

The lessons where the most words on this page become decodable. Words marked not in the sequence have a spelling the sequence never teaches as a pattern.

Lessons where the most words on this page become readable
Readable after	Words
Lesson 86	175
Lesson 96	2

How do you teach oa words?

Teach oa with ow /ō/. "Oa says /ō/ in the middle; ow says /ō/ at the end." Read boat, coat, road, goat, soap. Oa has one sound, which makes reading easy. The work is spelling: deciding between oa, o_e and ow.

What mistake do students make with oa words?

Students spell boat as bote or bowt. Position settles ow; for oa versus o_e, word families help (boat, coat, goat, float). Reading errors are rare.

Where do oa words come in the sequence?

Oa is taught with ow and oe, after ee and ea. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 86.

Exceptions worth knowing

Broad says /aw/. Oar and board have r after the team and say /or/. Oa never comes at the end of a word.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 86 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

The goat is in the boat.
Soap is on the road.
My coat can float.

Questions people ask

What are 5 oa words?

Boat, load, loan, road, float. Those are the five most common of the 177 words where oa says /ō/ in our checked list.

Does oa always say long o?

Almost always. Broad is the main exception, and before r (board) it says /or/.

Can a word end in oa?

Almost never in common words. Long o at the end is spelled ow, o or oe.

When can a student read oa words?

Oa words are taught at Lesson 86 in the lesson sequence we use. 175 of the 177 words on this page can be sounded out by then; the rest wait for a pattern taught later, and the tables show the lesson for each word.

How this list was built

Every word comes from our lexicon of common English words, each split into spelling units and checked against a pronouncing dictionary, so a word is listed under the sound its spelling really makes. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out. The readable after lesson comes from our decodability engine, which checks each spelling unit and syllable pattern against the lesson sequence. You can run your own text through the same engine with the free decodable text checker.