Spelling Short I Worksheet

Short i is the vowel sound a first grader meets in pig, lid and pin, and hearing it is only half the job — the other half is putting the right three letters on the page. This spelling short i worksheet puts both halves in one place. A child looks at a picture, says the word out loud, listens for the beginning sound, the short i in the middle and the ending sound, and then writes each of those three letters on its own line.

This 1st grade short vowel worksheet uses six picture cards, each with three blank lines beneath it. Nothing is filled in, so the student spells the whole word rather than copying a letter that is already there. Say the picture name together the first time through, stretch the word out sound by sound, then let the child write. The pictures are chosen to be nameable one way only — a pig is a pig, a fig is a fig — so the child is never guessing at what the picture is and can put all the effort into the spelling.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 6 picture cards with three-letter spelling lines

Three things make this spelling short i worksheet useful in a phonics block. First, writing all three letters turns a listening exercise into real encoding practice, which is the skill that transfers to writing sentences. Second, the words share the short i vowel but spread their consonants across nine different letters, so a child cannot get through the page on one pattern. Third, the picture-to-print step is exactly what a reading assessment asks for, and doing it six times in a row builds the habit quietly.

Teachers and parents can keep the sound going after the page is done. Say a short i word and have the child tap out the three sounds on their fingers before writing it. Hunt for short i words around the room — lid, bin, dish, milk, zip. Write the six words on cards, mix them up and match them back to the pictures. At home, let a child label a drawing with a short i word they can now spell. A few minutes a day of sounding out and writing does more than a long worksheet once a week.

Related Resources

• Circling Short I Words Worksheet
• Fill in the Vowel CVC Worksheet
• CVC Vowel Sounds Worksheet
• Letter I Song by Have Fun Teaching