If you teach English as a foreign language and use phonics, you’ve probably typed things like “words with ie”, “igh words” or “words with ee” into Google more times than you can count.
And you’ve probably noticed the same issue every time:
the sound is right — but the words are not right for ESL learners.
Many phonics word lists online are designed for native speakers. When we use them with ESL students, they can easily become confusing, ineffective, or simply frustrating. That’s why we started creating our own ESL-specific phonics word lists, based on what actually works in real classrooms.
Why many phonics word lists don’t work for ESL learners?
When you’re teaching phonics in an ESL context, students are doing two things at once:
- learning to decode a sound
- learning the meaning of the word
If the word is unfamiliar, abstract, or very low-frequency, the focus shifts away from the sound. Instead of practising phonics, the lesson turns into vocabulary explanation — and progress slows down.
This is something we see all the time when using phonics materials created for native speakers.
Words with IGH: when phonics words are right but wrong for ESL
A good example is the /aɪ/ sound spelled igh.
Native-speaker phonics lists often include words like:
- sigh
- thigh
- plight
They are phonetically correct, but for ESL learners they are:
- low-frequency
- abstract
- hard to visualise
- difficult to reuse in meaningful contexts
In our ESL phonics word lists, we prioritise words such as:
- light
- night
- high
Same sound, much clearer learning conditions.
These are not generic phonics word lists
The word lists we’ve created are not organised as traditional CVC or native phonics sequences.
Instead, they focus on the sounds and spellings that are most difficult for English language learners, based on our experience teaching ESL.
Words with AI, EE, IE and other vowel teams
Teachers often look for very specific lists, such as:
- words with AI / AY
- words with EE / EA
- words with IE / IGH
Our ESL phonics word lists group these spellings clearly and use practical, classroom-friendly vocabulary so learners can focus on decoding without struggling with meaning at the same time.
Free ESL phonics word lists (PDF)
We’ve put together a free PDF with our ESL-friendly phonics word lists so you can use them directly in your lessons.
👉 Download the ESL Phonics Word Lists (Free PDF)
They’re ideal if you:
- teach English as a foreign language
- work with children, teenagers or beginner learners
- want phonics materials that are clear, practical and ESL-appropriate
Want a complete ESL phonics system?
These word lists are part of the phonics system we use in our own ESL classrooms.
If you’re looking for ready-to-use lessons, games and structured materials designed specifically for ESL learners, you can explore our full Phonics Toolkit.
You can check out this Toolkit on these platforms: