This guide is for parents of children in kindergarten through 3rd grade (ages 5 to 9) who read short words easily but stall on said, was and they. Reading said as "sayd" applies a real rule (ai usually spells /ā/, as in rain) to a word that breaks it, so the stall shows decoding at work.
28 of 973 words (3%) appeared on all six word lists and reading curricula compared in a 2026 study, while 560 words (56%) appeared on only one. Cooper Borkenhagen, Schilling and Seidenberg, Reading Research Quarterly, 2026.
What Are Red Words?
Red words are words your child cannot fully sound out yet, because part of the spelling is irregular or not yet taught. Orton-Gillingham-based programs use the name because red tells a child to stop and look closely. Most red words are only partly red. In said, the s and d do what your child expects, and only the ai breaks the pattern by spelling /ĕ/ as in bed.
Table 1: Red words and their other names
Name | Where you hear it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
Red words | Orton-Gillingham-based and some school phonics programs | Words with a part your child cannot decode yet |
Heart words | US classrooms that map words | The same words, with only the tricky part learned "by heart" |
Common exception words, or tricky words | England's schools and curriculum | Words with unusual or untaught letter-sound matches |
Children usually meet red words in kindergarten (ages 5–6), when Common Core (CCSS) standard RF.K.3c asks them to read words such as the, of and to by sight. The skill starts in Year 1 in the UK National Curriculum, where children read common exception words while "noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound and where these occur in the word."
Are Red Words The Same As Sight Words?
No. To researchers, a sight word is any word read instantly, while red words are only the ones with a tricky part. Mixing up the two labels is how a decodable word like can ends up on a red flashcard.
Which Red Words Stay Red?
Many red words are red only for now. She, go and my turn regular once your child learns that a vowel ending a syllable usually says its long sound and that y can say /ī/ as in kite. The University of Florida Literacy Institute calls these temporarily irregular words, while permanently irregular words such as said, of and one keep a sound few other words share.
Accent changes the list too. England's list for Year 2 in the UK National Curriculum includes fast, path and bath, which its notes say are not exceptions where the a sounds as in cat, the way North American English says them (Oxford Learner's Dictionaries).
What Should Your Child Know Before Learning Red Words?
Your child is ready for red words once they can hear each sound in a short spoken word and know most letter sounds, the two skills Linnea Ehri's research says make mapping possible (2014).
Table 2: Readiness checks before red words
Skill | Quick check | Common Core |
|---|---|---|
Hears each sound in a short word | "What sounds are in sun?" Your child says /s/ /ŭ/ /n/ | RF.K.2d, kindergarten |
Knows consonant sounds | Your child says /m/, /t/ and /d/ for m, t and d | RF.K.3a, kindergarten |
Blends short words | Your child reads map, sit and hot | RF.1.3b, 1st grade |
The same sound and blending skills sit in Year 1 in the UK National Curriculum. If the first two checks wobble, keep playing sound games and let red words wait.
How To Teach Red Words Step By Step
Each red word takes six short steps and about five minutes. For each step, explain and model it, practice together, then let your child try alone. A school list may send home ten new words a week. Actually, start smaller: reading researcher Louisa Moats suggests three to five a week, starting with words your child writes often (American Educator, 2005).
Step 1: Say The Word And Use It In A Sentence
Say the word in a sentence and have your child repeat it. The step feels skippable, but it lets your child land on the right word later, when the letters point somewhere odd.
What to say: "This word is said. 'Mom said yes.' You say it." How long: 20 seconds.
Step 2: Tap The Sounds
Before showing letters, have your child tap one finger per sound, then draw a box for each.
What to say: "Tap said with me: /s/ /ĕ/ /d/. Three taps, three boxes." How long: 30 seconds.
Step 3: Map The Letters That Play Fair
Show the word and match letters to sounds. In said, s spells /s/ and d spells /d/, so each gets a dot.
The tempting shortcut is to drill the whole word on a flashcard. Try it with was. Your child learns its outline, then reads "The cat saw a bird" as "The cat was a bird." Same letters, different order, and an outline cannot show which comes first, but mapping can, because was starts with /w/.
What to say: "Which letters do what we expect? S and d play fair." How long: 30 seconds.
Step 4: Mark The Tricky Part And Fix The Regular Reading
Draw a small heart above the letters that break the pattern: the ai in said, which says /ĕ/, not the /ā/ in rain. Then read the word the regular way on purpose, "sayd," and fix it together.
That fix-it move is called mispronunciation correction. In a 2026 study, the first direct evaluation of the heart-word method, children taught the fix-it move matched the gains of heart-word teaching, and got there faster.
What to say: "If ai said /ā/, this would be 'sayd.' What real word sounds close? Said. So the ai gets a heart." How long: one minute.
Read this with your child: Said has three sounds. /s/ /ĕ/ /d/. The s and d play fair. The ai is tricky. It says /ĕ/, like in bed. Draw a heart on it.
Step 5: Write It While Saying The Sounds
Have your child write the word while saying each sound, then cover it and write it again. In a 2022 study of 85 Australian kindergartners, writing irregular words, or sounding them out and correcting them, beat looking and saying (Colenbrander and colleagues).
What to say: "Write said and say each sound. Now cover it and write it again." How long: one minute.
Step 6: Read It Again On Later Days
Read the word in a sentence tonight, review it for a few days, then weekly. Colenbrander's team notes that skilled 1st graders can learn a spelling in about four read-aloud tries with feedback, so plan on more for a child who struggles.
What to say: "Find said here: 'Sam said hi.'" How long: one minute a day.
What If Your Child Gets Stuck?
When a red word stalls, return to the step where it fell apart.
Table 3: One support move for each step
Step | Your child | You say |
|---|---|---|
Say it | Does not know the word | "Here it is in a sentence: 'She said thanks.'" |
Tap it | Taps once per letter | "One tap for each sound: /s/ /ĕ/ /d/." |
Map it | Cannot match s to a sound | "What sound starts sun? Same sound here." |
Mark it | Hearts the s | "Did the s surprise you? Then it plays fair." |
Write it | Writes sed | "Which letters spell /ĕ/ in this word?" |
Review it | Forgets it by Monday | "Let's tap it and find the heart part again." |
Reading in two languages? English red words can feel unfair to a child who also reads a language with more consistent spelling. Tell your child that English kept some old spellings, and keep reading in both.
What Do Red Words Look Like By Grade?
Red-word work peaks in kindergarten and 1st grade and fades by 3rd grade, the last grade with a Common Core irregular-word standard. The table pairs each US grade with England's same-age year.
Table 4: Red words by grade, with Common Core codes and same-age UK years
Grade (age) | Children can | Common Core | UK National Curriculum | Two-minute activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Kindergarten (5–6) | Reads the, of and to by sight | RF.K.3c | Year 1 in the UK National Curriculum | Tap the two sounds in the, then heart the e |
1st grade (6–7) | Reads and spells said and they | RF.1.3g, L.1.2d | Year 2 in the UK National Curriculum | Write said from memory |
2nd grade (7–8) | Spots unusual spellings like the ould in could | RF.2.3e, RF.2.3f | Year 3 in the UK National Curriculum | Write could, would and should, then circle ould |
3rd grade (8–9) | Reads irregular words and spells studied words | RF.3.3d, L.3.2e | Year 4 in the UK National Curriculum | Circle the w in two, twin and twice |
Plan about five minutes a day in kindergarten and 1st grade, five to ten in 2nd and 3rd, and ten minutes a few days a week in grades 4–8 on misspelled words, Moats's focus for struggling spellers. These times are estimates, and by middle school sign and signal explain each other.
Why Does This Method Work?
Mapping works because words stick in memory when letters link to sounds, and a red word has more linked letters than odd ones.
Letters glue words into memory. Linnea Ehri's research on orthographic mapping shows that children store words by linking letters to sounds, which bonds spelling, pronunciation and meaning (2014). Heart words use those links for all but the tricky part.
Most spelling is regular. A 1966 analysis by Hanna and colleagues, summarized by Moats (2005), found half of English words can be spelled from their sounds alone and estimated only four percent are truly irregular.
This point is genuinely confusing, because the official advice changed. The What Works Clearinghouse's 2016 practice guide said to teach irregular words as whole words, though its own flashcard routine had children spell each word aloud, which is the letter work newer studies favor.
What About Tapping, Air-Writing And Sand Trays?
Tapping and air-writing are fine if your child says the sounds and looks at the letters, the attention the studies support, but the movement itself is unproven. A 2021 meta-analysis of Orton-Gillingham interventions for students with or at risk for word-reading disabilities found a positive but not statistically significant effect on foundational skills (effect size 0.22). Multisensory practice also differs from teaching to a "learning style," an idea a 2008 review by Pashler and colleagues found no adequate evidence base for.
What Mistakes Do Parents Make When Teaching Red Words?
Mistake 1: Treating The Whole School List As Red Words
Where it slips in: A long "sight words" list comes home, and every word gets the same drill.
Don't do this: Drill can, it and and like said. The first instinct is to drill every word whole, because that is how flashcards usually get used.
The correct way: Sort first. Words your child can sound out go in a green pile, and only tricky words get a heart, as NWEA researcher Tiffany Peltier advised teachers in 2025.
Mistake 2: Pointing To The Picture When Your Child Is Stuck
Where it slips in: Your child stalls on was, and you glance at the picture for a clue.
Don't do this: Ask "What would make sense here?" before your child looks at the letters. The guesser learns that pictures hold the word.
The correct way: Cover the picture and go back to the letters. Meaning helps only after decoding, to turn "wass" into was. Coaching children to guess from pictures and context is called three-cueing.
Mistake 3: Letting A Wrong Spelling Settle In
Where it slips in: The memorizer aces Friday's flashcards, then writes sed and thay in a birthday card nobody corrects.
Don't do this: Leave invented spellings of red words uncorrected week after week.
The correct way: Praise the sounds your child heard, show the heart part and have them rewrite the word once. Moats warns that a common word learned wrong is harder to unlearn than to learn right.
Red Words Practice With Answers
Table 5: Practice to do with your child
# | Task | Word or prompt |
|---|---|---|
1 | Find the tricky part | what |
2 | Find the tricky part | two |
3 | Change it | Swap the first letter of could to make two words with its tricky part |
4 | Fix it | Your child wrote thay. What needs to change? |
5 | Make it | Write a sentence with two red words. |
Answer key:
What: heart on the a, which says /ŭ/ as in cup.
Two: hearts on the silent w and on the o, which says /oo/ as in moon.
Would and should. The ould stays.
Keep the th, and spell /ā/ with ey: they.
Any sentence with two correctly spelled red words, such as "They said yes."
What Games And Activities Build Red Word Skills?
Short games keep practice going.
Table 6: Red-word games and timings
Game | Materials | How to play | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
Heart hunt | A picture book, sticky notes | Stick a paper heart above the tricky letters in the, said or was | 5 min |
Red or green? | Word cards, two bowls | Sort cards into a green bowl (sounds out) and a red bowl (tricky part) | 5 min |
Fix-it reading | None | Say a red word the regular way, such as "wass," and your child names it | 2 min |
Spot the real one | Three cards | Show said, sed and siad, and your child picks the real spelling | 3 min |
Dictation sentence | Paper, a pencil | Say "They said yes," and your child writes it and checks the heart parts | 5 min |
When Should You Get Extra Help?
Talk to your child's teacher if red words keep vanishing after weeks of daily practice, or if regular words like map are just as hard, which signals a decoding gap.
Your child cannot pick out the sounds in a short spoken word by the end of kindergarten.
Words learned Monday are gone by Wednesday, week after week.
Spellings of common words stay far from their sounds (wz for was).
Reading aloud brings real distress.
Ask about a school reading screening, talk to your pediatrician, and see a speech-language pathologist about speech or language. The International Dyslexia Association's 2025 definition describes dyslexia as word-reading or spelling difficulty that persists even with teaching that works for a child's peers, and notes that early support is especially effective.
How Bhanzu Approaches Red Words
Our live online English classes, for kindergarten through 8th grade, build reading, writing, speaking and listening in small groups. Trainers follow a "Logic, Not Rules" approach, explaining a spelling's logic first and keeping memory tricks for what has none. Parents get a monthly progress review, and your child learns with peers from 20+ countries.
The classes suit families who want a live trainer alongside home practice. They are not the right first step for a child who needs a speech-language evaluation or dyslexia specialist.
Want your child to build this with a live English trainer? Book a free English class.
Wrapping Up
The core of how to teach red words is mapping: sound out the regular letters, then learn only the tricky part.
Red, heart, tricky and common exception words name one idea.
Many red words stay red only until your child learns their pattern.
Three to five new words a week, reviewed for a few days, is a pace children can hold.
When your child is stuck, point to the letters, never the picture.
Five Minutes Of Practice
Tonight, run the six steps with one red word, and review it tomorrow before adding another. Once short red words come easily, vowel teams like the ai in rain come next, and later silent letters like the k in knight get the same check.
Before this: letter sounds, blending and short words like cat. After this: vowel teams, r-controlled vowels such as the ar in car, and longer words.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Red Words Should A Kindergartener Know?
No national number exists. Common Core's RF.K.3c gives examples but no total, England's list for Year 1 in the UK National Curriculum names 45 words, and NWEA's Tiffany Peltier advised schools in 2025 against year-end targets for sight words.
Is There An Official Red Words List?
No. Dolch's 1936 list has 220 basic sight words and Fry's Instant Words run to 1,000, but neither is a red-word list, so your child's program decides.
Should Red Words Be Memorized?
Only the tricky part. That is how to teach red words in one line. Sound out the regular letters every time, and save memory for the one or two letters that break the pattern.
What Is The Difference Between Red Words And Heart Words?
Mostly the name. Some red-word routines have children spell the word aloud or write it many times, while heart-word teaching sounds out the regular letters first.
What Are Green Words?
Words your child can sound out with the phonics they know, like cat and can. Some schools color-code lists, with green for regular words and red for tricky words.
Do Red Words Fit The Science Of Reading?
Yes, when mapped. The research changed how to teach red words, not whether to teach them.
How Do You Teach Red Words To A Child With Dyslexia?
How to teach red words to a child with dyslexia comes down to the same steps in smaller doses, with more review and a reading specialist. In a 1995 study, older readers with reading disabilities needed significantly more practice to learn words by sight than beginning readers with similar letter-sound skills (Ehri and Saltmarsh).
Research Behind This Article
Matthew J. Cooper Borkenhagen, Lauren P. Schilling and Mark S. Seidenberg, "Which Words Are Special? Identification of 'Sight' Words in Educational Resources," Reading Research Quarterly, 2026: doi.org/10.1002/rrq.70077
Linnea C. Ehri, "Orthographic Mapping in the Acquisition of Sight Word Reading, Spelling Memory, and Vocabulary Learning," Scientific Studies of Reading, 2014: ERIC EJ1027413
Louisa C. Moats, "How Spelling Supports Reading," American Educator, Winter 2005/06: aft.org
Anna Lithgow, Saskia Kohnen, Polly Barr, Serje Robidoux and Danielle Colenbrander, "Teaching Irregular Words: A Comparison of Mispronunciation Correction and Heart-Word Methods," Scientific Studies of Reading, May 2026: doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2026.2671171
Danielle Colenbrander and colleagues, "Teaching Children to Read Irregular Words: A Comparison of Three Instructional Methods," Scientific Studies of Reading, 2022: ERIC EJ1370156
National Center on Improving Literacy, "Understanding the New IDA Dyslexia Definition," on the International Dyslexia Association's 2025 definition: improvingliteracy.org
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