Phonics word list

Short oo words

In short

Short oo is the vowel sound in book, good and foot, written /oo/. It is the second sound of the oo spelling, after long oo in moon. Our checked list has 143 words where oo says the short sound in book.

At a glance

Words in our list: 143
By syllables: one syllable: 32 · two syllables: 101 · three or more syllables: 10
Taught in: Lesson 89 in the sequence

One spelling, more than one sound

Most lists mix these up. We count each sound separately, so a student practicing one sound only sees words that make it.

How many words in our list spell each sound with oo
Sound	Example	Words	List
/ū/	too	306	See the list
/oo/	book	143	This page
/ŭ/	blood	143	This page

Oo words that say /oo/, 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

32 words, most common first.

One syllable
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
book	b·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
foot	f·oo·t	1	Lesson 89
good	g·oo·d	1	Lesson 89
look	l·oo·k	1	Lesson 30 (heart word)
took	t·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
books	b·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
goods	g·oo·d·s	1	Lesson 89
looks	l·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 30
stood	s·t·oo·d	1	Lesson 89
looked	l·oo·k·ed	1	Lesson 64
cook	c·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
hook	h·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
wood	w·oo·d	1	Lesson 89
cooks	c·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
hooks	h·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
shook	sh·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
woods	w·oo·d·s	1	Lesson 89
booked	b·oo·k·ed	1	Lesson 89
cooked	c·oo·k·ed	1	Lesson 89
hooked	h·oo·k·ed	1	Lesson 89
hood	h·oo·d	1	Lesson 89
nook	n·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
rook	r·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
soot	s·oo·t	1	Lesson 89
wool	w·oo·l	1	Lesson 89
brook	b·r·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
crook	c·r·oo·k	1	Lesson 89
hoods	h·oo·d·s	1	Lesson 89
nooks	n·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
rooks	r·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
brooks	b·r·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89
crooks	c·r·oo·k·s	1	Lesson 89

Two syllables

The 60 most common of 101 words. 41 more are in our list.

Two syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
wooden	w·oo·d·e·n	2	Lesson 89
looking	l·oo·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 65
mistook	m·i·s·t·oo·k	2	Lesson 89
goody	g·oo·d·y	2	Lesson 89
cookie	c·oo·k·ie	2	Not in the sequence
booking	b·oo·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
booklet	b·oo·k·l·e·t	2	Lesson 89
cookies	c·oo·k·ie·s	2	Not in the sequence
cooking	c·oo·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
goodbye	g·oo·d·b·y·e	2	Lesson 89
goodies	g·oo·d·ie·s	2	Lesson 110
hooking	h·oo·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
outlook	ou·t·l·oo·k	2	Lesson 96
bookshop	b·oo·k·sh·o·p	2	Lesson 89
football	f·oo·t·b·a·ll	2	Lesson 89
footnote	f·oo·t·n·o_e·t	2	Lesson 89
goodness	g·oo·d·n·e·ss	2	Lesson 89
handbook	h·a·n·d·b·oo·k	2	Lesson 89
textbook	t·e·x·t·b·oo·k	2	Lesson 89
bookshops	b·oo·k·sh·o·p·s	2	Lesson 89
bookstore	b·oo·k·s·t·ore	2	Lesson 89
childhood	ch·i·l·d·h·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
footnotes	f·oo·t·n·o_e·t·s	2	Lesson 89
textbooks	t·e·x·t·b·oo·k·s	2	Lesson 89
woody	w·oo·d·y	2	Lesson 89
cooker	c·oo·k·er	2	Lesson 89
footed	f·oo·t·ed	2	Lesson 89
hooded	h·oo·d·ed	2	Lesson 89
unhook	u·n·h·oo·k	2	Lesson 89
wooded	w·oo·d·ed	2	Lesson 89
bookend	b·oo·k·e·n·d	2	Lesson 89
boyhood	b·oy·h·oo·d	2	Lesson 95
crooked	c·r·oo·k·ed	2	Lesson 89
dogwood	d·o·g·w·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
footing	f·oo·t·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
lookout	l·oo·k·ou·t	2	Lesson 96
manhood	m·a·n·h·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
plywood	p·l·y·w·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
wooding	w·oo·d·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
barefoot	b·are·f·oo·t	2	Lesson 112
bookcase	b·oo·k·c·a_e·s	2	Lesson 89
bookends	b·oo·k·e·n·d·s	2	Lesson 89
bookings	b·oo·k·i·ng·s	2	Lesson 89
booklets	b·oo·k·l·e·t·s	2	Lesson 89
bookmark	b·oo·k·m·ar·k	2	Lesson 89
bookworm	b·oo·k·w·or·m	2	Lesson 89
brooking	b·r·oo·k·i·ng	2	Lesson 89
cookbook	c·oo·k·b·oo·k	2	Lesson 89
dogwoods	d·o·g·w·oo·d·s	2	Lesson 89
firewood	f·i_e·r·w·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
foothill	f·oo·t·h·i·ll	2	Lesson 89
foothold	f·oo·t·h·o·l·d	2	Lesson 89
footings	f·oo·t·i·ng·s	2	Lesson 89
footpath	f·oo·t·p·a·th	2	Lesson 89
footstep	f·oo·t·s·t·e·p	2	Lesson 89
footwear	f·oo·t·w·ear	2	Lesson 112
footwork	f·oo·t·w·or·k	2	Lesson 89
girlhood	g·ir·l·h·oo·d	2	Lesson 89
goodwill	g·oo·d·w·i·ll	2	Lesson 89
hardwood	h·ar·d·w·oo·d	2	Lesson 89

Three or more syllables

10 words, most common first.

Three or more syllables
Word	Spelling units	Syllables	Readable after
understood	u·n·d·er·s·t·oo·d	3	Lesson 89
misunderstood	m·i·s·u·n·d·er·s·t·oo·d	4	Lesson 89
overlook	o·v·er·l·oo·k	3	Lesson 80
overlooks	o·v·er·l·oo·k·s	3	Lesson 80
undertook	u·n·d·er·t·oo·k	3	Lesson 89
likelihood	l·i_e·k·l·i·h·oo·d	3	Not in the sequence
overlooked	o·v·er·l·oo·k·ed	3	Lesson 80
overlooking	o·v·er·l·oo·k·i·ng	4	Lesson 80
footnoted	f·oo·t·n·o·t·ed	3	Lesson 89
footnoting	f·oo·t·n·o·t·i·ng	3	Lesson 109

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 30	1
Lesson 64	1
Lesson 65	1
Lesson 80	4
Lesson 89	121
Lesson 96	3
Lesson 110	1
Lesson 112	2
Not in the sequence	6

How do you teach oo words that say /oo/?

Many words with short oo end in k or d (book, look, cook, good, wood, hood). "Oo can say /oo/ as in book." Read the -ook family first, then -ood. This sound is also spelled u in put, push and pull, so teach those words with it.

What mistake do students make with oo words that say /oo/?

Students read book as /būk/. That is a good first try; prompt the flex. In spelling, they write u for oo (buk). Word families (book, cook, look, took) fix most of it.

Where do oo words that say /oo/ come in the sequence?

Short oo is usually taught with u /oo/ (put, push), in the second vowel team unit. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 89.

Exceptions worth knowing

Blood and flood say /ŭ/. Some speakers say room, roof and root with short oo.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 89 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

Look at the good book.
Cook the fish in the wood stove.
Put your foot on the hook.

Questions people ask

What are 5 oo words that say /oo/?

Book, foot, good, look, took. Those are the five most common of the 143 words where oo says the short sound in book in our checked list.

What words have the short oo sound?

Book, look, cook, good, wood, foot, stood and took. Put, push and pull have the same sound spelled with u.

Is short oo the same as short u?

No. Short u is /ŭ/ as in cup. Short oo is /oo/ as in book, with rounder lips.

When can a student read oo words that say /oo/?

Oo words that say /oo/ are taught at Lesson 89 in the lesson sequence we use. 128 of the 143 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.