These worksheets focus on understanding the use and application of words that contain long and short u vowel sounds.

These worksheets will help students understand which words contain the long or short u vowel sounds. This will help students increase your student's level of reading fluency. Once students have a solid grasp of this phonics skill you will find that they will have a greater level of confidence when reading aloud to the class as well as independently.



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Print Long U Short u Vowel Sounds Worksheets

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Long U Sound Worksheet

The Long U Sound

Circle the objects that have a long U (ū) sound. Then write the word under the picture.

Identification Worksheet

Short U (ŭ) Words

Circle the terms that all share the target sound that we are looking for. Words included that you will sort through are: shrug, ruin, plum, rug, duel, numb, tune, tuck, moon, shoe, undone, tomb

Long and Short U Worksheet

Long and Short U

Color the Long U words RED. Color the Short u words BLUE. Color all other words GREEN.

New Words Worksheet

New Words

Complete each sentence with a Long U word from the word box. Take your time you are looking to use each term only once.

Like They Appear Worksheet

Sounds Like They Appear

Circle the word in each pair that has the long u sound. Write that word on the line. Words include: puppet, value, cup, acute, granule, grub, rugged, refuse, news, nugget

Short Sound Search Worksheet

Short Sound Search

Say the name of the picture. Circle the term within the stream of letter that are presented to you.

Long Word Search Worksheet

Long Word Search

Underline the Long U words in the story and write them on the lines. Only write each word once.

Skunk, Shoes, Igloo Worksheet

Skunk, Shoes, Igloo

Cut out the pictures. Glue them next to the correct u sound words.

Short u Worksheet

Short u Worksheet

Say the name of each picture. If it has a short u sound, draw a line to connect the picture to each of the correct labels.

Long U | Short U Worksheet

Long U | Short U

Read each word. Does it have a long U (ū) sound, or a short U (ŭ) sound? Color in the circle next to the correct sound.

 u and u_e Words Worksheet

Short u and u_e Words

Read each word. Then add an e. Read the new term that you created and write it on the line.

Finish It Off Worksheet

Finish It Off

Read each word. Then draw a picture of it. Be creative and see where this worksheet can take you.

u and u__e Worksheet

Long u and u__e Words

Draw a line to match each picture to the correct word.

Long U Sound Worksheet

The Long U Sound

Name each picture and sound it out. Spell its name on the line.

Can You Hear Worksheet

Can You Hear the Short U (ŭ)?

Circle the word in each set that starts with a short u (ŭ) sound. Circle the word in each set that contains the same sound.

What Are These Sounds and What Words Are They Found In?

If the English Language wasn't already complicated enough, we now have long and short U vowel sounds! But fret not! It's not tough to study this, and with us around, you'll get the hang of this by the end of this blog. Long and short U vowel sounds exist in the English language, but they're pretty easy to understand, and you'll grasp the knowledge before you know it.

What Are Long and Short U Vowels?

First and foremost, we need to understand what long and short vowels are. When we understand the basics of the language, we can only decipher and come up with an interpretation.

Long vowels mean a vowel sound uttered the same way the vowel is pronounced-for example, feud.

Short vowels restrict the word from pronouncing the vowel's sound, for example, cub. Cub has no long vowel sound because its pronunciation restricts it.

Feud has a long vowel sound because you can perfectly hear the 'u' sound. Other words have both long and short U vowel sounds. Usually, you'd have to sift through, but you have us do that.

Now, what is the concept behind them? Its simple, if there is a word where you must say “Ew”, then it's a long U word. If you don't have to but there is a U present in the spelling, then it's a short U word. Let us give you some examples:

Long U Words: Students, rude, stupid, cute, etc. See what happened? You literally have to say Ew in them.

Short U Words: Cup, mug, hug, uncle, etc. You don't even feel like there is u there, but spelling-wise it is there.

As far as "Long u" vowels you will also see that the u_e combination, ew, and oo can make the same sound as a standard long u. Did you know the noun with the longest number of letters? It's a hill in New Zealand. It is called: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitnatahu. Come on Kiwi-land you couldn't curb the letters, just a bit? The most common long "u" words are: music, student, use, cute, huge, tube, rule and flute. The most common short "u" words are: bud, bug, cut, cup, fun, jug, run and tug.

Let's look at some long U vowel sounds to understand this in more detail:

Long U Vowel Sounds

  1. Human
  2. Unicorn
  3. Dual
  4. Eugene
  5. University
  6. Union

These words have long U vowel sounds because you can hear the vowel U as a complete letter when you pronounce them.

Short U Vowel Sounds

  1. Tub
  2. Ugly
  3. Unable
  4. Ulcer
  5. Bluff
  6. Blunt

These words have short U vowel sounds because you cannot hear the vowel U as a complete letter when you pronounce them.

Exercise

The following are 20 words. From this list, choose which words have long U vowel sounds and which words have short U vowel sounds:

Abduct Cute Huge Truck
Adult Cup Mud Ukulele
Amuse Cupid Nut Umbrella
Blue Drum Pun Uniform
Bus Duty Rug Uterus

As discussed above, Long U vowel sounds pronounce the letter U when the word is spoken, and short U vowel sounds are those whereby the letter U is restricted when the word is pronounced. Let's discuss the terms mentioned above.

  1. Adult has a short U vowel sound because we can't hear the sound of the letter U in the word.
  2. Uniform has a long U vowel sound because we hear the letter U when we pronounce the word.
  3. Amuse has a long U vowel sound because the letter U can be heard in the pronunciation.
  4. Huge has a long U vowel sound, too, because we can listen to the letter U.
  5. Blue is also a word containing a long U vowel sound because the letter U can be heard.
  6. Pun and Nut have a short U vowel sound because the letter U's pronunciation is restricted.
  7. Duty has a long U vowel sound because the letter U can be heard in the pronunciation.
  8. Abduct, Cup, Umbrella, and Truck have short U vowel sounds.
  9. Ukulele has a long U vowel sound.
  10. Drum, Mud, Bus, and Rug have short U vowel sounds.
  11. Cupid has a long U vowel sound.

The Learning

Understanding how long and short U vowel sounds work can be confusing, but there's just one simple tip! If you can hear the sound of 'U' when you pronounce a word, you know it's a long U vowel sound. If you don't, you know it's a short U vowel sound. But as you practice and swift through words, you'll understand how this works better. It's very easy and simple.