put3 letters for 3 sounds, and the middle one is the surprise: this u says the oo of foot, not the u of cup. The p and the t make their usual sounds.
Put putCapital P stands on the base line. Small p hangs its stick below it. Directions start with Put, so the child meets the capital often.
put put put put putFive to trace, the most that fit one row at the Large height. Each letter reaches a different level: the p drops under the base line, the u stays low and the t climbs past the dashed line.
Show all 34 practice lines (31 more)
Spot-the-word rows 5
foot put soot putCircle put 2 times. Here the ear and the eye disagree: foot and soot, the black dust in a chimney, are its true rhymes, and they spell the sound with two o's.
nut put hut put pitCircle put 2 times. Nut and hut rhyme with each other and not with put. Pit has the right first and last letters around the wrong vowel.
pat put pot put petCircle put 2 times. Pat, pot and pet keep the p and the t and change only the vowel, so the middle letter decides.
put but put cut putCircle put 3 times. But and cut end in the same two letters, yet they have the u of cup, so neither one rhymes with it.
put putt put pupCircle put 2 times. A putt is a gentle tap in golf: it has a second t and the u of cup. Pup swaps the last letter for another p.
Missing-letter rows 2
p_t pu_ _utOne letter is missing each time: u, then t, then p. The first gap is the one that counts, because a, e, i and o would all make a real word there.
put pu_ p__ ___Put fades from the back: write t, then u-t, then the whole word with no letters left to lean on.
Put plus a small word 11
put awayThe clean-up direction. Away is a plus way, and its a-y says a long a, like day and play.
put it backBack where it came from. Back sounds out, with c-k sharing one sound at the end.
put it on topFour short words that all sound out except put itself, so the u stands alone as the thing to learn.
put it togetherWhat you do with a puzzle. Clap to-geth-er as three beats before writing it.
put on a coatPut on means to get dressed in something. Coat has o-a saying a long o.
put out the lightPut out means to switch off. Light has a silent g-h, so show it whole.
put that downSaid when hands are on something they should not be. The o-w in down is the sound in now.
put them in a rowA direction for counters and blocks. Row has o-w saying a long o, not the ow of cow.
put up a tentPut up means to build or to raise. Up and tent both sound out, and up holds the usual short u that put does not have.
put your hand upThe classroom rule. Hand sounds out, and up comes last with its everyday short u.
stay putA saying that means stay right where you are. It is the one phrase here with put at the end.
Sentences to read and copy 13
Can you put it back?5 words. A polite way to ask, so it ends in a question mark. Can and back sound out.
Dad put up the tent.5 words. Put and up stand side by side: one u says the oo of foot and the other says the u of cup.
He put his cup down.5 words. Put and cup sit two words apart with the same middle letter and two different sounds. Read both aloud and listen.
I put it on the bed.6 words, and none of them is longer than three letters.
I put my name on it.6 words. The child can do what the line says on the Name and Date line of this very sheet.
Mom put me to bed.5 words. Me ends in an e that says its name, and the o in to says oo.
Put it in the box.5 words. It, in and box sound out, and the is known by now, so put is the only word that needs help.
Put the lid on.4 words. Lid and on sound out. A direction for glue sticks, markers and paint pots.
Put your foot in.4 words. Put and foot rhyme, which the child can hear but cannot see. A line for boot time.
She put on a red hat.6 words. Here put on is about getting dressed. Red and hat are both plain three-letter words.
Then I put it back.5 words. This one happened before now, and put has not changed: today I put, last week I put. Nobody says putted.
We put toys away.4 words. Toys has o-y, the sound in boy. The class can read this one at tidy-up time and then do it.
Where did I put it?5 words, and the question every grown-up asks about keys. Where is a word to know whole; did and it are plain.
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 put is pronounced with the vowel of foot, that putt sounds the same only in accents without the foot and strut split, that its simple past is put, and that put away, put on, put down, put back, put up, put out, put in and put together are listed phrasal verbs: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/put (checked 2026-09-19). That foot has the same rhyme: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foot (checked 2026-09-19). That cut has the vowel of cup in General American and Received Pronunciation, and the vowel of put in Northern England: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cut (checked 2026-09-19). That the older rounded u usually survived after the lip sounds p, b and f, in a group the article spells out as bull, bush, full, pull, push, put and others, and that cut and put rhyme in accents without the split: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_close_back_vowels (checked 2026-09-19). That stay put means to remain in one fixed place: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stay_put (checked 2026-09-19). Where the pencil starts p, u and t 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
Put looks like but, cut and nut, and it rhymes with none of them. This sight word put sheet has the child trace it, circle it among but, pat, pot and pet, and finish ___ it in the box.
Read the full guide
Why put does not rhyme with cut
Wiktionary gives put the vowel of foot and cut the vowel of cup. Both once had the same rounded u. Wikipedia's history of these vowels says it lost its rounding in most words. The rounding usually survived after a lip sound such as p, b or f. So put, push, pull, full and bush kept it, and cut and nut did not. In much of northern England cut and put still rhyme.
Put brings a partner word
A child hears put all day at the start of a direction, nearly always with a partner word: away, back, down, on, up. Read "put away", "put it back" and "put your hand up" as directions, and let the class do each one before writing it.
P, u and t reach three levels: the p drops below the line, and the t stands above the u.
Sort by ear. Say foot, cut, push, nut, book, bus. The child stands up when a word has the vowel of put.
In "He put his cup down." the child underlines both u's, then reads the two words: one letter, two sounds.
Questions and answers
Is put a word to sound out or to learn whole?
Mostly to sound out. The p and the t are regular, so the only part to learn by heart is the u, which says the oo of foot. Tap p, oo, t on three fingers.
Why does my student write putted?
It is a sensible guess, since most doing words add -ed for the past. Put stays the same: today I put, last week I put. Wiktionary lists put as its own past form. The line "Then I put it back." shows it.
How do I help a child who reads put as but?
Point to the first letter: p drops below the line, b stands tall. On the board, write the row "put but put cut put" from the full list near the bottom of this page. Ask for 3 circles. Only sentences can go on the sheet.