Vowel switch: pat / pit / pot
One sound changes, and the whole word changes.
What this skill is
Minimal pairs differ by exactly one sound, which forces a child to attend to the vowel rather than guessing from the consonants around it. This is the fastest way to catch and fix vowel confusion.
Three ways to teach it at home
- Say two words that differ by one sound and ask which one you said. Exaggerate nothing — the discrimination is the point.
- Have them change the word themselves: "say mat. Now change the /a/ to /i/."
- If the vowel is the sticking point, anchor each one to a keyword and a gesture, and keep the keyword identical every single time.
The full word list
Every word here uses only spellings taught at or before this rung, so nothing needs guessing. Print it, or read it down the column together.
pat · pit · pot · pet · put · bag · big · bog · bug · beg · cat · cot · cut · man · men · pan · pin · pen · hat · hit · hot · hut · tap · tip · top · ran · run · sat · set · sit
Where this sits in the ladder
Comes after
Opens next
This is the top of its strand.
Questions people actually ask
What grade is "vowel switch: pat / pit / pot"?
It sits in kindergarten in most sequences, and it is aligned to RF.K.2d. In Ladderbug it opens once short e words is solid — grade labels are a rough guide, and readiness is what actually matters.
Is this game free?
Yes. This page needs no account, no email and no card, and there are no advertisements. It saves progress in your own browser.
What mistakes should I watch for?
Guesses the vowel from the first and last consonant. We probe for it deliberately by offering that exact wrong answer as a choice, and if a child picks it twice we go back to vowel switch: pat / pit / pot rather than repeating the same question.
This is one rung of 82.
Open the whole ladder — free