Er, ir, and ur all spell the exact same bossy-r sound, the one heard in her, bird, and turn. Say all three words aloud: the vowel-plus-r sound in the middle is identical, even though the spelling changes. That is different from ar and or, which each spell one sound of their own, which is why this page keeps er, ir, and ur together as a single topic instead of splitting them into three: there is only one sound here to learn, and the real skill is choosing which of the three spellings a given word uses. First graders can usually hear the sound easily but guess at the letters, writing 'brid' for bird or 'hurd' for a word that is really spelled herd.
This worksheet asks your child to spot the shared sound among other words, fill in the missing er, ir, or ur letters in a partly hidden word, find the word spelled with a chosen pattern, and choose the correct word to complete a short sentence. Since a spelling test cannot be solved by sound alone here, encourage your child to picture how each specific word looks in print, not just how it sounds.
What your child will learn
Hear the shared er, ir, ur sound
Match each word to its correct spelling
Read and spell words like bird, turn, and fern
Choose the right word to complete a sentence
Worked example
Bird and turn both have the same vowel-r sound in the middle, but bird is spelled with ir and turn is spelled with ur. You cannot hear the difference — you have to remember how each word looks.
Common mistake
Spelling the bossy-r sound with whichever of er, ir, or ur comes to mind first, instead of remembering the correct letters for that particular word.
Helpful hint
Say the word, then think about how you have seen that exact word written before.
★
pencilgo.com
