Sight Word Down Worksheet

Press Print worksheet for a sheet on the word down, which has the ow of cow, not of snow.

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NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comdowndowndowndowndowndownTrace it. Then write it.Find "down". Circle it every time. How many did you find?Read it. Say it. Spell it aloud.downdonedowndawndawndindowndowndowndowndinowndowntownnowdodendownnow
NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comWrite the missing word. Then read the sentence.Read the sentence. Then write it.Cut out the letters at the bottom. Glue them here in order to build the word.Sithere.Lie down on a mat.owdn
NameDateMade at homeroomtools.comFind "down". Circle it every time. How many did you find?Write the missing word. Then read the sentence.Cut out the letters at the bottom. Glue them here in order to build the word.Read it. Say it. Spell it aloud.Answer keydown7donedowndawndawndindowndowndowndowndinowndowntownnowdodendownnowSithere.downdownowdn
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The word "down" on 2 pages and 1 page of answers, Letter landscape.

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What goes on the sheet
Pick from the 12 sentences with "down"

The whole list is under the tool. With scripts on, each line here can be pressed to put it on the sheet.

Next step Make the sheet for up, its oppositeMake the sheet for how, the same ow in three letters

The sight words and their practice lines

The word on its own 3

  • down 4 letters for 3 sounds: d, ow, n. The o and the w work as a team and say the ow of cow. The d is the only tall letter, and it comes first.
  • Down down Capital D beside small d. They face opposite ways: the capital bulges to the right of its stick, the small letter to the left.
  • down down down Three to trace, and the row is close to full. Start each d on its round part, at the dot, and add the tall stick last.

Spot-the-word rows 4

  • den down din down Circle down 2 times. Den and din also run from d to n, with one letter in the middle where the target has two.
  • do down town down Circle down 2 times. Do is the first two letters and stops there. Town rhymes and trades the d for a t.
  • done down dawn Circle down 1 time. Done keeps d, o and n, drops the w and rhymes with sun. Dawn has an a where the o should be.
  • own down now down Circle down 2 times. Own is the word with its d taken off, and it says the long o of bone. Now has the right sound and stops before the n.
Show all 34 practice lines (27 more)

Missing-letter rows 3

  • d__n t__n g__n The same team finishes down, town and gown: o-w. Write it three times and read the three rhymes aloud.
  • dow_ d_wn _own One letter is missing each time: n, then o, then d. The last gap is the one to watch: a child who flips letters will put a b there.
  • down do__ ____ A fading row. Copy the word, write its second half, then write all four letters from memory.

Down after an action, down a place 12

  • down low The second half of a high five: up high, down low. Low has the long o of snow, the other sound of o-w.
  • down the hall Down a place, and not a lower one: here it means along. Hall has the aw sound of ball.
  • down the hill Down a place. Hill sounds out. Long ago the word itself began as a phrase meaning off the hill.
  • down the steps Down a place. Steps sounds out and starts with the blend s-t.
  • fall down After an action. The a in fall says aw, as it does in ball and tall.
  • get down After an action. Get sounds out. It is what you say to a cat on the table.
  • hands down A classroom signal once a question has been answered. Hands sounds out.
  • lie down After an action. The i-e in lie says the name of the letter i.
  • sit down After an action. Sit sounds out, and the class hears this pair every day.
  • slow down Two o-w teams with two sounds: slow has the long o of snow, and the target has the ow of cow.
  • upside down Up and side join into one word. Turn the traced sheet over and ask what the word looks like now.
  • write it down After an action. Write starts with a silent w, so the phrase holds one w that is quiet and one that is part of a team.

Sentences to read and copy 12

  • A duck has down. 4 words. Here down is a different word: the soft, fine feathers under a bird's outer ones.
  • Down we go. 3 words. The target comes first and takes a capital D. Say it at the top of the slide.
  • Get down, cat. 3 words. Get and cat sound out, so the target is the only word to know by sight.
  • I fell down. 3 words. Fell sounds out and doubles its last letter.
  • Is it up or down? 5 words and a question mark. The opposites sit side by side. Hold a card high or low and let the class answer.
  • Lie down on a mat. 5 words. A rest-time command. On, a and mat all sound out.
  • My sock fell down. 4 words. Sock ends in c-k, which says one k sound.
  • Sit down here. 3 words. A command every class knows. Sit sounds out; here is a word to learn whole.
  • Slow down, Max. 3 words and a comma before the name. Two o-w teams in a row, and they do not sound alike.
  • The sun went down. 4 words. Sun and went both sound out, and the target comes last.
  • We ran down a hill. 5 words. Ran and hill sound out. Here the target tells where the running went.
  • Write it down. 3 words. A command the child obeys by copying it on the empty row.

How this list was compiled: Every line was written for this site on 2026-09-18 and read aloud for sense. No line is taken from a published sight word list or workbook, and the page claims no list or grade level for the word. Spellings were checked against the macOS system word list. The counts in the spot-the-word rows and the word counts of the sentences were worked out. That down rhymes with town and brown, has no listed sound-alike, and comes from an Old English phrase meaning off the hill: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/down (pronunciation, rhymes and etymology 1, checked 2026-09-19). That own is said with the long o of bone in most accents, not with the vowel of town: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/own (checked 2026-09-19). That the down of a bird is its layer of fine feathers, a separate word from Old Norse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_feather (checked 2026-09-19). Where the pencil starts the small d and the small b was read from the tool's own table for the Print letter style. Sound notes describe general American pronunciation. Licence: own work

How it works

O-w says one thing in cow and another in snow, and the spelling never says which. This sight word down worksheet has the child trace it, circle it among town, done, own and now, and finish Sit ___ here.

Read the full guide

One letter team, two sounds

Down has 4 letters and 3 sounds: d, ow, n. In down, town, now and cow the o-w team says ow. In slow, low, snow and own it says a long o. The spelling does not say which, so down is learned by sight. Slow down and down low each hold both sounds, so read them aloud first.

The word own sits inside and does not rhyme

Cover the d and what is left is own, which Wiktionary gives the long o of bone. If a child reads down to rhyme with it, write the row own down now down on the board. Read it aloud, then circle down twice. The row is near the foot of this page, under The sight words and their practice lines.

  • Pair it with up. Hold a card high or low while the class reads Is it up or down?
  • Sort the phrases: down after an action (sit down) and down a place (down the hill, down the hall).
  • Sit down, lie down and get down are commands: one child reads, the rest obey.

Questions and answers

Can the down sight word be sounded out?

Partly. The d and the n say their usual sounds. The middle is the o-w team, and a child has to know that here it says the ow of cow. Once down is known, town and gown can be read from it.

My student writes bown or dwon for down. What helps?

For a flipped first letter: a small d starts on its round and a small b at the top of its stick. Dwon means the order is shaky, so write the missing-letter row dow_ d_wn _own on the board. It places each letter in turn.

Why is "A duck has down." among the sentences?

Children meet that down too, in coats and pillows. It is a separate word, from Old Norse, for the fine soft feathers under a bird's outer ones. The everyday down began as an Old English phrase meaning off the hill.

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