Reading Multisyllable Word Patterns

You already know how to read short words with one beat, like "cat" or "jump." Now you will learn to read longer words with more than one beat. These are called multisyllable words. You will learn to break them into smaller chunks, read each chunk, and then blend the chunks together to say the whole word.

A multisyllable word has more than one beat when you say it. Clap your hands while you say the word "napkin." You will feel two claps: nap and kin. The word "basket" also has two claps: bas and ket. Longer words like "watermelon" have even more claps.

Each beat, or syllable, has one vowel sound inside it. If you can find the vowels in a word, you can find where to split it. This is the first step to reading any long word you see in a book.

To split a word, first find the vowels. Then look at the consonants between the vowels. Often you can split the word right between two consonants that sit next to each other. The word "basket" has the consonants s and k sitting together, so you split between them to get "bas" and "ket."

Not every word splits the same way. Some words split after just one consonant, like "robot," which splits into "ro" and "bot." You will notice the pattern by looking at where the vowels sit.

Each chunk you make follows a phonics pattern you already know from short words. A chunk that ends in a consonant, like "nap" or "bas," usually has a short vowel sound. A chunk that ends in a vowel, like "ro" in "robot," usually has a long vowel sound.

Once you see these patterns inside each chunk, you can guess the vowel sound before you even say the whole word. This turns a scary long word into two or three small words you already know how to read.

After you read each chunk by itself, say them one right after the other, faster and faster, until they sound like one word. For "rab" and "bit," you say "rab... bit... rabbit." For "sun" and "set," you say "sun... set... sunset."

Try this with words in your own books. Cover part of the word with your finger, read the chunk you can see, then slide your finger over and read the next chunk. Put the chunks together and check that the word makes sense in the sentence you are reading.

Multisyllable Word: A word with more than one beat, like "napkin" or "basket."

Syllable: A chunk of a word with one vowel sound and one clap.

Syllable Pattern: The way letters are arranged inside a chunk, which tells you the vowel sound.

Split: To break a word apart into its syllable chunks.

Blend: To say syllable chunks together, faster and faster, until they sound like one word.

Pick a long word from a book and clap it out to count the beats. Write the word on paper and draw a line between the chunks. Say each chunk slowly, then blend the chunks together to read the whole word out loud.

Play a sorting game with word cards. Sort the cards into piles by how many chunks each word has: two chunks, three chunks, or four chunks. This helps you notice syllable patterns faster the next time you read.

Related lessons

• Decoding Single Syllable Words