Decoding Strategies Worksheets

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Decoding, in reading, is where we use our knowledge of letter-sound relationships and begin to correctly pronounce letter patterns that we run across. Students that struggle with reading often have a great deal of difficulty with this skill. This often does not come naturally and takes a good bit of practice. This makes decoding a huge pre-reading skill. As we learn to become better decoders, we learn how to recognize words, and as result their meaning, very swiftly. There are many different approaches that teachers can take to introduce this to students. In this section we will focus our materials on the standard approach that most educators follow. If you would like to explore a few different methods, scroll to the bottom of this page where we discuss various selected techniques. Take a look below for just over a baker's dozen worksheets and answer keys to help you learn how to relate words with the sounds that are located within them.


Decoding Strategies Worksheets To Print:

Decoding with Beginning and End Sounds - The first part of the word is the beginning sound. The last part of the word is the end sound. Sometimes the beginning and end sounds of words can be very similar, and if we try to read too fast, we get the word wrong. Paying close attention to beginning and end sounds, as well as to the context of the sentence, can help you to make sure that you get the word right.

Boxer Context - Fill in each blank with a word from the word box.

Skippy the Frog - As you read, use the Skippy the Frog strategy for words you do not know. Write each word that you do not know in a lily pad. When you finish reading, start again from the beginning. Are you able to decode any of the words that you skipped the first time?

Flippy Dolphin or Chunky Monkey - Which strategy works best for each word?

Lips the Fish - As you read, use the Lips the Fish strategy for words you don't know. Write each word that you don't know in a box. Get your lips ready and make the sound of each letter. Are you able to figure out the word?

Look At Everything - Use one of these strategies to TAKE ACTION and solve words.

Tally Mark Decoding - Make a mark next to a strategy each time you use it.

New Words - Write down the words you are having trouble with. Circle the strategy you used to figure it out.

Read with Stretch the Snake - Slowly stretch each letter to say the word.

Chunky the Monkey - Copy the words from the board. Use Chunky the Monkey strategy to break the words into chunks.

Flippy the Dolphin - Copy the words from the board. Use Flippy the Dolphin strategy to try both long and short vowel sounds. Which word makes sense in the sentence?

Eagle Eye - As you read, use the Eagle Eye strategy for words you do not know. Write each word that you do not know on a line. Then look at the picture. Does anything in the picture start with the same beginning sound as the word that you wrote?

Stretchy vs. Flippy - Which strategy works best for each word?

Picture Draws - As you read, write down the words you don't know. Draw a picture of the decoding strategy that helps you to figure out the word.

New Words - Work with a partner. Use decoding strategies to pronounce each word. It is okay if you don't know what the word means.


How to Teach Decoding Strategies to Young Readers

Before students begin to work on the process of decoding, it is especially important for them to be immersed in a wide range of phonological awareness activities. This is the foundation that is required in order to be able to decode well. If you follow a phonics-based approach at your school, this can be a moot point. If your reading program centers more around a whole language approach, you will need to spend a good amount of time focusing on sounds, blends, and other phonics centered practices. You need your students to have a decent range of seeing how words are just a bunch of sounds put together to create a full-length sound. Just like a musical band is not just a singer or percussion or brass or wood, rather it is a blend of all those things into one.


A solid strategy to help students envision the flow of letters within a word is to air write them. Just like, air guitar, students will use their fingers to draw the shape of the letters in the air. This is a great strategy to help them mentally focus on letters and the shapes that they make. I would remind students to keep in simple and focus on only using lower case letters. In action, students are usually much more successful at them than upper case letters. What I find that this really helps students begin to understand letter spacing within a word. You will find that students will either pack them in to tight or have them so loose, that it cannot be recognized as an actual word.


A tried and trye activity to help students begin the decoding journey is the use of picture – letter -sound matches. This is where you create a series of picture cards and ask students what sounds they hear in the words that are represented by pictures. You can even have the sound labelled on the card to act as a prompt for your students. The first time through, you may want to offer more prompts. As you repeat the same sounds, you may ask students to offer up new words that match the sounds. It might also be helpful to have many different posters available in your room to reflect this strategy.


We then move into territory where the teacher works one-on-one with the student. There is a simple series of steps. Throughout this entire process, you will want to keep track of each student's progress. This will be helpful as you repeat lessons and can identify where they are at with their skills. Start by having them identify a vowel before the student even reads the word. Then have them break the word into sounds and begin to pronunciate it. Ask them to pay specific attention to a spelling pattern that they may recognize. Are there any blends present? Are there any common prefixes present? They will make many mistakes along the way. Always reinforce with positive feedback and consistency.


The next step is making sight words automatic. You can do this by using a sight word list that arranged by word use frequency. Have students look through each column and write down any words that they do not know. Once you have all those words write them on individual note cards. I would then have them arrange the note cords in long and short word piles. From there it is simple repeated repetition to help you learn and memorize these words. Sight words are the backbone of strong reading.