Phase 3 Phonics Sounds in Order

Where Phase 3 fits — and when it starts

Phase 3 is the natural sequel to Phase 2. Where Phase 2 taught single letter sounds (s, a, t, p…), Phase 3 teaches the sounds that need two or three letters to write down — sh, ch, th, ng, ai, ee, igh and friends. Most schools teach it in the spring term of Reception, roughly January to March, over about twelve weeks.

The entry ticket is a reasonably secure Phase 2: your child knows most single-letter sounds and can blend simple CVC words like sat, pin and duck. If Phase 2 is still wobbly, don't rush forward — a shaky foundation makes digraphs genuinely confusing, while two more weeks of Phase 2 games costs nothing. When blending feels easy, Phase 3 is the right next mountain.

One reassuring fact: nothing about how you help changes. The same pure sounds, the same blending routine, the same short daily practice from our Phase 2 guide — just with longer spellings and longer words.

The Phase 3 sounds, in teaching order

Schools teach the sounds in a fixed sequence, and the sequence is deliberate: the first new sounds unlock new words immediately, and the harder vowel spellings come once children are confident with consonant digraphs. Here is the full order from Letters & Sounds:

• Set 6: j, v, w, x — jug, van, web, box (x says 'ks', as in box)
• Set 7: y, z, zz, qu — yes, zip, buzz, queen (qu is always 'kw', and the u never works alone)
• Consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, ng — chop, ship, thin, ring
• Vowel digraphs: ai, ee, igh, oa — rain, see, light, boat
• oo — two sounds for one spelling: short oo as in book, long oo as in moon
• ar, or, ur — car, fork, burn
• ow, oi — cow, coin
• ear, air — hear, hair
• ure, er — pure, her

Digraphs and trigraphs, explained for grown-ups

A digraph is two letters that make one sound: sh in ship, ai in rain. A trigraph is three letters making one sound: igh in light. English has around 44 sounds but only 26 letters, so doubling and tripling up is how the spelling system copes — once you see it, the logic is rather beautiful.

For your child, the practical rule is simple: when two (or three) letters are underlined or written together as a unit, they make one sound and get blended as one chunk. So sh-i-p is three sounds, not four — sh, i, p. That single habit is half of Phase 3.

Two honest warnings. First, a few digraphs have more than one sound — ow as in cow versus ow as in snow, th as in thin versus th as in this. Phase 3 teaches the most common one; the others arrive later, and that's fine. Second, split digraphs like a-e in cake and i-e in like are not Phase 3 at all — they come in Phase 5, usually Year 1. Don't jump ahead to them; the two-letter spellings need to be rock solid first.

Say every sound purely

The pure-sound rule from Phase 2 matters even more now, because longer words collapse completely if each sound carries a passenger 'uh'. Keep every sound clean and short, and stretch the ones that stretch:

• j — soft edge, as in jug (not 'juh'); v — buzz it: vvvv; w — short and round, as in wasp (don't add 'uh')
• x — 'ks' as in box; y — quick 'y' as in yes; z, zz — long hiss: zzzz (zz is the same sound, doubled)
• qu — always 'kw', as in queen; ch — chop it short (not 'chuh'); sh — shhh, finger to lips; th — two sounds: thin (whispery) and this (buzzy)
• ng — hold it at the back: si-nggg, never 'n-guh'; ai — rain (not 'ay'); ee — see, lips smiling
• igh — the tricky three-letter one: l-igh-t, one sound; oa — boat; oo short — book; oo long — moon
• ar — car, open and long (not 'ar-uh'); or — fork; ur — burn, the grumbly one
• ow — cow (the 'snow' sound comes later); oi — coin; ear — hear; air — hair; ure — pure; er — her, soft and unstressed

Blending gets longer: words to try

Phase 3 words are longer — CVCC and CCVC shapes like ship, chat, thin, ring — but the blending method is identical: say the sounds left to right, then say the whole word. The new skill is spotting the digraph first and treating it as one sound.

A lovely way to practise is the 'find the team' game: write a word, ask your child to underline the two letters that are working as a team (sh, ch, ai…), then blend. It turns the hard part — noticing the digraph — into the game itself.

• ch, sh: chip, chat, shop, ship, fish, bash
• th, ng: thin, this, that, sing, long, ring
• ai, ee: rain, paid, see, feel, feet
• igh, oa: light, night, boat, road, goat
• oo: book, look (short); moon, soon (long)
• ar, or, ur: car, park, fork, born, burn, turn
• ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er: cow, down, coin, oil, hear, near, hair, chair, pure, cure, her, dinner

The 12 Phase 3 tricky words

Tricky words are the ones that can't be fully sounded out yet — children learn them by sight, a few at a time. Phase 3 adds twelve to the Phase 2 list:

• he, she, we, me, be — the 'me' family, all ending in that long 'ee' sound
• was, my, you, they, her, all, are

A 10-minute daily routine that works

Keep the Phase 2 rhythm — little and often beats long and occasional. Revisit yesterday's sounds first (quick flashcards or magnetic letters), teach one new sound with its picture word, then read three or four words containing it. Finish by re-reading a sentence or caption with the new sound in it — applying it immediately is what makes it stick.

Write the new sound big and let them trace it while saying it: the hand remembers what the mouth practises. Three or four new sounds a week is a healthy pace; if one wobbles, loop it into the next day's revisit pile without drama.

If you'd like the whole phase as print-and-go pages — every grapheme big and traceable on UK handwriting lines, with picture words, blending ladders and a completion certificate — our Phonics Phase 3 pack follows this exact teaching order, so it slots straight alongside what school is doing.

Practise this at home

Phonics Phase 3 (Letters & Sounds)

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