Phonics Phase 3, 4 and 5 Worksheets: Free Printable Resources

Phases 3, 4, and 5 represent the heart of systematic phonics teaching in the UK. Introduced in Reception and developed through Year 1, these phases take children from reading simple CVC words to decoding the vast majority of words they will encounter in everyday texts. Targeted phonics worksheets for each phase are one of the most effective resources available to both teachers and parents for consolidating this crucial learning.

**Understanding Phonics Phases 3, 4 and 5**

Before diving into worksheets, it helps to understand precisely what each phase covers.

Phase 3 builds on the initial sounds taught in Phase 2. Children learn 25 new grapheme-phoneme correspondences, including consonant digraphs (ch, sh, th, ng), vowel digraphs and trigraphs (ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er), and the remaining single letters of the alphabet (j, v, w, x, y, z, qu). By the end of Phase 3, children can read and write a substantial range of simple words and sentences.

Phase 4 introduces no new grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Its purpose is consolidation. Children practise blending and segmenting words that contain adjacent consonants — consonant clusters — such as CCVC words (e.g., step, clap, frog) and CVCC words (e.g., best, lamp, felt). This builds reading fluency and prepares children for the more complex phonics content ahead.

Phase 5 is typically taught across Year 1 and is by far the most content-heavy phase. Children learn alternative pronunciations for known graphemes (for example, the grapheme "ea" can represent the sounds in "eat", "bread", and "great") and alternative spellings for known phonemes (for example, the sound /ay/ can be spelled as "ay" in "play", "ai" in "rain", "a-e" in "cake", "ey" in "they", "ei" in "vein", and "eigh" in "eight"). Understanding these alternative spellings is essential for both reading fluency and spelling accuracy.

**Phase 3 Phonics Worksheets**

Effective Phase 3 phonics worksheets target one digraph or vowel digraph at a time before moving to mixed practice. For each new sound, a good worksheet progression is:

Sound recognition: Identify pictures whose names contain the target sound. For example, for the digraph "ch", children circle pictures of a chair, a chin, and a chip and cross out a car, a dog, and a sun.

Word reading: Read a list of words containing the target sound, then use each word in a simple sentence or match it to its picture.

Word writing: Listen to words containing the target sound and write them. This segmenting practice builds both phonics knowledge and spelling.

Sentence level: Read or write simple sentences containing words with the target sound. For example, for the "oo" digraph: "The moon is in the room."

Tricky words: Phase 3 introduces a set of High Frequency Words that cannot be decoded phonetically (such as "the", "he", "she", "we"). Worksheets that practise reading and writing these words alongside decodable words build whole-text reading fluency.

**Phase 4 Phonics Worksheets**

Phase 4 worksheets focus on adjacent consonants and building reading speed. Useful activities include:

CCVC word building: Provide onset blends (st-, cl-, fr-, tr-) and rimes (-ap, -ip, -og) that children combine to build words. For example, "cl" + "ap" = clap.

CVCC word sorting: Provide a list of words and ask children to sort them by their final consonant cluster: -nd (bend, sand), -lt (belt, bolt), -mp (lamp, camp).

Fluency reading passages: Short decodable texts using only Phase 2, 3, and 4 sounds that children read aloud and then answer simple comprehension questions about.

Dictation: Read out short sentences containing Phase 4 words and ask children to write them accurately.

**Phase 5 Phonics Worksheets**

Phase 5 worksheets are the most varied and challenging in KS1 phonics. With so many alternative spellings to learn, it is important to focus on one at a time before moving to comparison activities.

Alternative spellings sorting: Provide words containing the same phoneme spelled different ways and ask children to sort them into columns. For example, for the /ay/ sound: play, rain, cake, they, vein, eight — sorted into ay / ai / a-e / ey / ei / eigh columns.

Choosing the right spelling: Given a spoken word, children must choose the correct spelling from two or more options (e.g., "Does 'rain' spell the /ay/ sound with 'ai' or 'ay'?"). This is a higher-order skill that prepares children for spelling tests.

Alternative pronunciations: Provide a list of words with the same grapheme and ask children to sort by pronunciation. For example, the grapheme "ea" in "eat", "bread", and "great" makes three different sounds — children sort and read each.

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check preparation: The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC), sat each June, includes both real words and pseudo-words (nonsense words such as "blem" or "spitch"). Phase 5 worksheets that include pseudo-words alongside real words are essential preparation.

**Tips for Using Phonics Worksheets at Home**

Always know which sounds your child is currently learning at school. Ask their teacher which phase they are on and which graphemes have been taught most recently. Worksheets that reinforce what is being taught in the classroom — rather than introducing new sounds in a different order — are significantly more effective.

Keep sessions short. Five to ten minutes of focused phonics worksheet activity is appropriate for most children in Reception and Year 1. Follow phonics work with something the child enjoys as a reward.

Use worksheets alongside physical and oral activities. Phonics is auditory as much as visual. After completing a worksheet, practise saying the words aloud, play word games using the target sounds, and read books that feature the phase being studied.

Praise the process rather than the outcome. Phonics is genuinely challenging, and making mistakes is a normal part of learning. Celebrating effort, persistence, and the moments when something clicks builds the positive attitude towards reading that underpins all future literacy learning.

**Generate Free Phonics Worksheets for Phases 3, 4 and 5**

Worksheets Generator creates free, targeted phonics worksheets for any phase and any specific sound in seconds. Select the appropriate age group (Reception for Phases 3 and 4, Year 1 for Phase 5), type a specific topic such as "Phase 3 ch digraph", "Phase 4 adjacent consonants CCVC", "Phase 5 alternative spellings for ay", or "Year 1 phonics screening check practice", choose Beginner difficulty, and click Create. A unique phonics worksheet complete with answer key is generated instantly and ready to print.