Syllable type
Consonant-le syllables
The answer
A consonant-le syllable is a consonant plus le at the end of a word, and it is always the last syllable: ta/ble, lit/tle, han/dle. The e is silent. Our lexicon has 63 two-syllable consonant-le words, all shown divided before the consonant.
How does it work?
This is the only syllable type with no vowel sound you can see. The le says /ul/, with a schwa. The division rule is simple and reliable: count back three letters from the end and split there, so the consonant goes with le (ta/ble, puz/zle). What changes is the first syllable. If the split leaves it open, its vowel is long (ta/ble, ti/tle). If two consonants sit before le, the first syllable is closed and short (lit/tle, han/dle). Our tables sort the words that way.
The word lists, divided
Closed first syllable (lit/tle, han/dle)
| Word | Divided | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| angle | an/gle | Lesson 75 |
| apple | ap/ple | Lesson 75 |
| bottle | bot/tle | Lesson 75 |
| handle | han/dle | Lesson 75 |
| little | lit/tle | Lesson 75 |
| middle | mid/dle | Lesson 75 |
| sample | sam/ple | Lesson 75 |
| settle | set/tle | Lesson 75 |
| simple | sim/ple | Lesson 75 |
| single | sin/gle | Lesson 75 |
| ample | am/ple | Lesson 75 |
| uncle | un/cle | Lesson 75 |
| baffle | baf/fle | Lesson 75 |
| battle | bat/tle | Lesson 75 |
| boggle | bog/gle | Lesson 75 |
| bubble | bub/ble | Lesson 75 |
| bundle | bun/dle | Lesson 75 |
| castle | cas/tle | Lesson 118 |
| cattle | cat/tle | Lesson 75 |
| fiddle | fid/dle | Lesson 75 |
| gentle | gen/tle | Lesson 117 |
| hassle | has/sle | Lesson 75 |
| humble | hum/ble | Lesson 75 |
| jungle | jun/gle | Lesson 75 |
| kettle | ket/tle | Lesson 75 |
| mangle | man/gle | Lesson 75 |
| muddle | mud/dle | Lesson 75 |
| mumble | mum/ble | Lesson 75 |
| muscle | mus/cle | not taught |
| puzzle | puz/zle | Lesson 75 |
| rattle | rat/tle | Lesson 75 |
| tackle | tack/le | Lesson 75 |
| temple | tem/ple | Lesson 75 |
| toggle | tog/gle | Lesson 75 |
| waffle | waf/fle | Lesson 94 |
| quibble | quib/ble | Lesson 75 |
| stumble | stum/ble | Lesson 75 |
| whistle | whis/tle | Lesson 118 |
| struggle | strug/gle | Lesson 75 |
| paddle | pad/dle | Lesson 75 |
Open first syllable (ta/ble)
| Word | Divided | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| able | a/ble | Lesson 75 |
| cycle | cy/cle | Lesson 117 |
| table | ta/ble | Lesson 75 |
| title | ti/tle | Lesson 75 |
| stable | sta/ble | Lesson 75 |
| idle | i/dle | Lesson 75 |
| bible | bi/ble | Lesson 75 |
| cable | ca/ble | Lesson 75 |
| noble | no/ble | Lesson 75 |
| trifle | tri/fle | Lesson 75 |
| triple | tri/ple | Lesson 75 |
Other first syllables (bea/gle, pur/ple)
| Word | Divided | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| circle | cir/cle | Lesson 117 |
| couple | cou/ple | not taught |
| double | dou/ble | not taught |
| people | peo/ple | Lesson 41c (heart word) |
| trouble | trou/ble | not taught |
| eagle | ea/gle | Lesson 85 |
| feeble | fee/ble | Lesson 85 |
| garble | gar/ble | Lesson 77 |
| needle | nee/dle | Lesson 85 |
| purple | pur/ple | Lesson 81 |
| startle | star/tle | Lesson 77 |
| turtle | tur/tle | Lesson 81 |
How do you teach it?
Teach it after closed and open syllables, since students need both to read the first syllable. Write the word, cover the last three letters and read what's left. Then uncover the end and read the le syllable as /bul/, /dul/ or /tul/. Put the two parts together.
"Look at 'cradle'. Count back three from the end: d, l, e. Split there: cra/dle. The first syllable ends in a, so it's open and the a is long. Then /dul/. Cradle. Now 'juggle'. Count back three: g, l, e. Split: jug/gle. The first syllable ends in g. Closed, short u."
What is the common error, and the fix?
Students read "table" as "tab-le", closing a syllable that should be open. Others say "lee" for le. The fix is the three-letter count: split before the consonant that comes before le, then check whether the first syllable ends in a vowel (long) or a consonant (short).
Sort it: a hands-on activity
Sort consonant-le cards into "open first syllable" (table, cradle) and "closed first syllable" (little, candle). Students draw the split line, then read only the first syllable aloud before placing the card.
How this list was built
Every word comes from our lexicon of about 19,000 common words, each checked against a pronouncing dictionary and split into spelling units. Words a student meets in our assessments and progress-monitoring probes are left out, so practicing a list never rehearses a test. The lexicon gives syllable counts but not boundaries, so each split is worked out from the consonant and vowel units between the first two vowel sounds, using a long or short first vowel to choose V/CV or VC/V, and checked by hand. Words where that method is unreliable are left out. Compound splits come from the two words that make up the compound.
"Readable after" is the first lesson in the lesson sequence at which our decodability engine finds every sound-spelling in the word taught; "not taught" means the word has a spelling the sequence does not cover, so it is read with help. You can check your own lists and passages with the free decodable text checker.
Questions people ask
What is a consonant-le syllable?
A final syllable made of a consonant followed by le: ble, cle, dle, fle, gle, kle, ple, tle, zle. It has a schwa sound and comes at the end of a word.
How do you divide consonant-le words?
Count back three letters from the end and divide before them: angle, apple, able, cycle. With ck, keep the ck in the first syllable: tick/le.
Why does little have two t's?
To close the first syllable. With one t, the first syllable would be open and the i would be long, as in title. The doubled letter keeps the vowel short.
Is the e in le silent?
Yes. The syllable sounds like /ul/, and the e adds no sound of its own.