Long ‘I’ Words (List, Activities, and Free Printables)

Teaching long vowels involves hearing, reading, and spelling words. Teaching long ‘i’ (think slime and multiply) means teaching students the many ways long ‘i’ is spelled. Use our long ‘i’ word lists and cards to teach all the ways we read long ‘i.’

Grab the free printable long ‘i’ word list and cards by filling out the form on this page. Then try some of the activities below.

Teaching Long ‘I’

Typically, you’ll teach long vowel patterns after students have mastered short vowels. When you get to long ‘i,’ start with words that have an ‘i-e’ pattern (hive, bite). That’s a long vowel pattern they’ll probably already be familiar with from other long vowel words. Then, progress to other common spellings like ‘igh’ (night, tight) and ‘-y’ (by, fry). Once students are solid with those patterns, introduce the ‘y-e’ pattern (byte, style) and ‘ie’ (tie, die). Then, when students learn multiple-syllable word patterns, teach them that open syllables have long vowel sounds.

These are the long ‘i’ patterns:

• ‘i-e’ as in kite and mine
• ‘igh’ as in night and right
• ‘y’ as in my and cyclone
• ‘y-e’ as in type
• ‘ie’ as in pie

Long ‘I’ Words

I-E Words

These are words that have the ‘i-e’ pattern. The ‘e’ at the end of the word makes the letter ‘i’ say its name, or make the long ‘i’ sound.

alike, alive, arrive, aside, bike, bite, bride, combine, decide, describe, despite, excite, exercise, file, five, hide, inside, like, lime, kite, mine, organize, outside, pipe, provide, realize, ride, side, slide, slime, smile, sometime, surprise, time, write

IGH Words

bright, delight, fight, flashlight, fright, high, higher, highest, knight, light, might, mighty, moonlight, night, right, sigh, sight, slight, tight, tonight, twilight, upright

-y Words

apply, butterfly, by, classify, cry, cycle, defy, deny, dry, dying, fly, fry, lying, magnify, multiply, my, myself, nearby, nylon, occupy, reply, satisfy, shy, sky, sly, spy, try, why

Y-E Words

analyze, byte, hype, Lyme, style, thyme, tyke, type

IE Words

die, lie, pie, tie, vie

Open-Syllable Long ‘I’ Words

In these words, the ‘i’ is long because it is in an open syllable. We say long ‘i’ when the syllable ends in ‘i,’ as in spi/der.

bicycle, diet, dinosaur, final, finally, Friday, giant, hi, idea, iron, item, library, lion, pilot, science, silent, spider, tricycle, Wi-Fi

Learn more: Open and Closed Syllable Words and Activities

How To Use the Word List and Cards

First, point out the letters and patterns that make the long ‘i’ sound. Create reference words for each spelling pattern. This gives students a source to think about when they’re figuring out how to spell new words. So, if you teach them ‘ie’ says long ‘i’ as in pie, you can prompt them to spell the vowel sound in the word die like they would in the word pie. 

Listen for Long ‘I’

Read words that do and do not have long ‘i.’ Have students raise their hand if they hear a long ‘i’ sound. This builds students’ phonemic awareness, or ability to hear sounds in words.

Listen and Write

Read words aloud and have students write the words. This activity, which engages kids’ ability to link letters and sounds, helps students build their memory of letters and sounds. The process is pretty simple: Say the word, help students hear and write each sound, then read the word again. Once students know how to do this activity, give them a deck of long ‘i’ cards and have them work in pairs. One student draws a card and reads the word, the other student writes the word.

Ending ‘y’ Word Sort

Students need to practice words that have similar spelling patterns but that “say” different sounds. For example, in words that have ‘y’ at the end, sometimes ‘y’ says long ‘e’ (as in candy) and sometimes it says long ‘i’ (as in dry). Teach students that ‘y’ at the end of a word makes the long ‘e’ sound when the word has more than one syllable, like funny or silly. ‘Y’ makes the long ‘i’ sound when the word only has one syllable, as in cry or why. With that knowledge, have students sort words that end in ‘y.’ 

I Spy

Display the word cards. Say a word or say the meaning of a word and have students “spy” the correct word in the display. You can also divide students into teams and give each team a magnifying glass to turn this into a relay. 

Follow the Path

Create a word path with cards from one end of a table to another. Have students role a di and move a game piece that many cards. They read the word on each card before moving ahead. 

Pool Noodle Phonics

Create a pool noodle spelling activity by cutting up pool noodles and writing letters on them. Either read a word or give students word cards. They use the pool noodle letters to create and read the word. Students can also work in pairs, where one student reads a word and the other creates it. 

Learn more: Pool Noodle Phonics

Memory

It’s a classic game. Put the long ‘i’ word cards face down. Have students choose two words at a time. If the long ‘i’ spelling patterns on the cards match (fright and tight, or my and by), they keep the pair. At the end of the game, have each student read out the words they collected. 

Grab your free printable Long ‘I’ Word List and Cards!

Do you have students practicing long ‘i’? Just fill out the form on this landing page to get a free printable list and word cards for teaching long ‘i.’

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