Multisyllable Words: by Vowel Sound

By Rodney Everson • Updated Oct 3rd, 2023

OnTrack Reading Phonics Program

Teach your student the phonics advanced code in as little as 8 weeks with our 170-page workbook and instruction manual.

Welcome to the OnTrack Reading Multisyllable Word Lists.

Each multisyllabic word list you will find below focuses on one of the nineteen vowel sounds found in English words. For example, the /ow/ sound list has 2 and 3 syllable words in which the /ow/ sound is spelled either "ow" or "ou."

Author’s Note

Please note: The words on these lists are divided into chunks, not syllables, with the chunk boundaries determined by the method used in the OnTrack Reading Multisyllable Method. Do not use these lists to determine syllables.

By the way, if you like what you find here, the OnTrack Reading Comprehensive Word Lists book shown below contains all of the lists on these three word list pages in one convenient publication.

Comprehensive Word Lists

Features over 100 word lists built from 7,000 words input from a children's dictionary. Lists are organized by vowel and consonant sounds and cover most common spellings. Useful in the classroom for building curriculum aids such as short stories that emphasize specific sounds and spellings. Multisyllable words are also included, chunked according to the method taught in the OnTrack Reading Advanced Code Phonics Workbook.

Group 1: The First Vowel Sounds Spelled in Basic Code Only

The multisyllable words on these lists contain only the /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ sounds spelled with the letters a, e, i, o, and u, respectively. They contain no /ow/ sounds, no /er/ sounds, etc., so can be useful for working on multisyllable words without having to worry about advanced code vowel spellings. If a word contains more than one basic code vowel spelling, it will appear on the list for the highest letter in the alphabet. For example, the word mathematics has /a/, /e/, and /i/ vowel sounds and will appear only on the /i/ list.

Group 2: The Second Vowel Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 3: The Ar, Or, Er, and Err Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 4: The Remaining Vowel Sounds Organized by Spelling

Group 5: Basic Code Vowel Sounds - Alternative Spellings

A word list in this group will contain all multisyllable words in the database where basic code vowel sounds are not spelled in basic code. For example, the U (touch) list will have all words in which the digraph ou represents the /u/ sound. Note that the schwa sound in many words is converted to a precise pronunciation, so a word like son is included on the O(hot) list.

Word Lists
A (cat) Sound Multisyllable Word List