Grade by Grade
B. Foundations of Language · Reading Longer Words and Sentences

The Six Syllable Types

B2.1 B2.2About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can name the six kinds of syllables: closed, open, silent e, vowel team, bossy r and consonant-le.
  • I can use the syllable type to decide what sound the vowel makes.
  • I can read two-syllable words by reading one syllable type at a time.
  • I can flex the vowel sound when my first try doesn't make a real word.

Words to know

syllable
A part of a word with one vowel sound.
closed syllable
A syllable that ends with a consonant. The vowel is usually short: cat, nap|kin.
open syllable
A syllable that ends with a vowel. The vowel is usually long: go, ti|ger.
silent e syllable
A vowel, then one consonant, then a silent e. The first vowel is long: cake, in|side.
vowel team syllable
Two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound: rain, boat, cloud.
bossy r syllable
A vowel followed by r. The r changes the vowel sound: car, bird, corn. Also called r-controlled.
consonant-le syllable
A consonant + le at the end of a word: ta|ble, pud|dle.

Remember from Grade 2

In Grade 2 you learned lots of vowel patterns: silent e (cake), vowel teams (rain, boat, cloud), bossy r (car, bird), and words that end in -le (table). You also split two-syllable words like rab|bit and ro|bot.

In Grade 3, you will put it all together. Every syllable belongs to one of six types. The type is like a clue that tells you what the vowel will say.

Meet the six syllable types

A handy way to remember them is the word CLOVER 🍀:

  • Closed
  • Le (consonant-le)
  • Open
  • Vowel team
  • E (silent e)
  • R (bossy r)
catclosedgoopencakesilent erainvowel teamcarbossy rbleconsonant-le
One example of each syllable type: cat (closed), go (open), cake (silent e), rain (vowel team), car (bossy r) and ble, as in table (consonant-le).
TypeHow to spot itVowel soundExamples
ClosedEnds with a consonantShortcat, sit, hop, nap|kin, rab|bit
OpenEnds with a vowelLong (says its name)go, me, hi, ro|bot, mu|sic
Silent eVowel + one consonant + eLong; the e is silentcake, bike, home, cup|cake, in|side
Vowel teamTwo or more letters make one vowel soundMany sounds: long, or sounds like oi, ou, aw, oorain, play, boat, cloud, coin, rea|son
Bossy rVowel + rr changes the vowel: ar, or, er, ir, urcar, corn, her, bird, fur, gar|den
Consonant-leConsonant + le at the end of a wordSays /ul/: ble = /bul/ta|ble, pur|ple, can|dle, puz|zle
The six syllable types

y can act like a vowel

At the end of a syllable, y often works like a vowel:

  • In a short word with no other vowel, y says long i: my, fly, sky.
  • At the end of a longer word, y usually says long e: hap|py, ba|by, can|dy.

So my, fly and the ba and by in ba|by are all open syllables.

Worked example

Let's read a word using syllable types

Read: sunshine

  1. Find the vowels: sunshine. The final e is silent, so there are two vowel sounds and two syllables.
  2. Split: sun | shine.
  3. sun ends with a consonant: a closed syllable, so the u is short: /sun/.
  4. shine has i + n + e: a silent e syllable, so the i is long: /shine/.
  5. Blend: sun-shine.

sunshine = sun (closed) + shine (silent e).

Worked example

Let's read two more words

Read: turtle and pancake

  1. turtle: split tur | tle. tur has u + r: bossy r, says /ter/. tle is consonant-le, says /tul/. Blend: tur-tle. 🐢
  2. pancake: split pan | cake. pan is closed, short a. cake is silent e, long a. Blend: pan-cake. 🥞

tur|tle (bossy r + consonant-le) and pan|cake (closed + silent e).

One consonant in the middle? Open or closed?

When one consonant sits between two vowels, you have to choose.

  1. Try open first: split before the consonant. The first syllable ends with a vowel, so the vowel is long: ti | ger, ro | bot, mu | sic.
  2. If that's not a real word, try closed: split after the consonant. Now the vowel is short: cab | in, lem | on, riv | er.

This is called flexing. Good readers try one sound, check if it makes a real word, and then try another if they need to.

1. Try open first2. If needed, try closedtigerti | gerlong i: TY-gerA real word. Done!cabinca | binlong a: KAY-bincab | inshort a: KAB-in
Flexing: split before the consonant first (open, long vowel). If that is not a real word, split after it (closed, short vowel).
Worked example

Let's flex

Read: river

  1. Find the vowels: river. One consonant (v) between the i and e.
  2. Try open first: ri | ver with a long i: "RYE-ver". Is that a word I know? No.
  3. Try closed: riv | er with a short i: "RIV-er". Yes! Water that flows. 🏞️
  4. Check: We paddled the canoe down the river. It makes sense.

riv | er: a closed syllable (short i) + a bossy r syllable.

Just for fun

Why do open syllables have such good manners?

Their vowels always say their own names! (go, me, hi)

Hands-on activity

Syllable type sort

You need: 18 small pieces of paper or sticky notes, a pencil, and 6 bowls or cups.

  1. Label the bowls: closed, open, silent e, vowel team, bossy r, consonant-le.
  2. A grown-up writes these syllables on the papers: pic, nic, ro, bot, mis, take, rain, coat, tur, ble, gar, den, ti, ger, pud, dle, sun, shine.
  3. Read each syllable out loud. Put it in the right bowl.
  4. Now make real words by joining two syllables: pic|nic, ro|bot, mis|take, rain|coat, gar|den, ti|ger, pud|dle, sun|shine. Two papers are left over (tur and ble). Can you join them? (tur|ble is not a word, but tur goes with tle in turtle and ble goes with ta in table.)

Answers: closed: pic, nic, bot, mis, den, pud, sun. Open: ro, ti. Silent e: take, shine. Vowel team: rain, coat. Bossy r: tur, gar, ger. Consonant-le: ble, dle.

Your turn

1

What type of syllable is hop? Is the o long or short?

2

What type of syllable is she? Is the e long or short?

3

What type of syllable is note?

4

What type of syllable is storm?

5

Split and read: napkin. Name both syllable types.

6

Split and read: puddle.

7

Read: The robot ate a cupcake at the picnic.

More practice: warm-up

1

What does the C in CLOVER stand for?

2

Is go an open or closed syllable?

3

Which word has a vowel team: boat or bat?

4

Read: tiger. Where do you split it?

5

In happy, what sound does the y make?

More practice: on your own

1

Split and read rainbow. Name both types.

2

Read cabin. Did you split it open first? What happened?

3

Split and read garden. Name both types.

4

Split and read inside. Name both types.

5

Which word does not have a consonant-le syllable: bubble, purple, pebble, puppy?

Challenge

1

Read hamster and pumpkin. What is the same about how you split them?

2

Read seven and even. Why is the first e short in one and long in the other?

3

Make a two-syllable word using one open syllable and one consonant-le syllable.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What kind of syllable ends with a consonant and usually has a short vowel?

2.

In mu | sic, the u is long because mu is:

3.

Which word has a bossy r syllable?

4.

Which is the right way to split candle?

5.

You read lemon as "LEE-mon" and it isn't a word. What should you try?

6.

Which syllable is a silent e syllable?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Knowing the six syllable types (closed, consonant-le, open, vowel team, silent e, r-controlled) helps children predict vowel sounds in longer words (B2.1, B2.2). This builds directly on the Grade 2 vowel patterns.

How to help at home:

  • Cover a two-syllable word with your finger and reveal one syllable at a time. Ask: "What type is this part? So what does the vowel say?"
  • Play the sorting game with words from cereal boxes and signs.
  • When your child misreads a word, say "Try it the other way" (flex) rather than giving the answer.

Common difficulties:

  • Reading every vowel as short. Point out open syllables: "It ends with a vowel. What does the vowel say?"
  • Splitting consonant-le words in the wrong place (cand|le). Count back three letters from the end.
  • Thinking the rules always work. They are guides. The final check is always: "Is it a real word that makes sense?"