If your child has moved through s, a, t, i, p, c and k and is now stuck on egg, bed, and pen, welcome to the phonics e sound — the third sound in Jolly Phonics Group 2 (c, k, e, h, r, m, d). Most children meet it in Reception or kindergarten, around age four to five, right after they get comfortable with c and k.
This guide walks you through exactly how to say the phonics e sound so you do not accidentally teach the letter name instead, plus the official action, real word lists, four short activities, and a free tracing worksheet you can print today.
Saying the /e/ Sound Correctly
e is a short vowel, exactly like the one in egg, bed, and pen. To make it, open your mouth about halfway, spread your lips slightly, and hold your tongue in the middle of your mouth, toward the front. Your voice is on the whole time — you should feel your throat buzz — and the sound itself is short and clipped: eh, not eeeh.
The official Jolly Phonics action is to pretend you are tapping an egg on the edge of a pan and cracking it in, saying eh, eh, eh as you tap. A quick cue song helps it stick too: sing “crack, crack, crack the egg, eh, eh, eh says the egg” to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle, tapping an imaginary egg on each “crack.”
e is easy to mix up with short a and short i. Say pen, pan, and pin one after another and watch your mouth in a mirror: pen stays about halfway open, pan opens wider, and pin barely opens at all. If your child says pin instead of pen, exaggerate opening your mouth a little wider as you model pen. One more note: the long e sound in words like he, me, and tree is a completely different, later sound — for now you are only after the short one.
A Short /e/ Story for Egg, Bed, and Elbows
Danny was carrying a fresh egg to the kitchen when he tripped on the step. “Eh! Eh! Eh!” he yelped, watching it wobble across the tiles. Ten seconds later, his sister Julia ran in with a wet cloth and helped him clean up the mess. “Let’s get you a snack instead,” she said, tucking him into bed and teasing him about his clumsy elbows. By bedtime, Danny was laughing about the whole eggy mess.
Download the Free Jolly Phonics 42 Sounds Chart
Get all 42 Jolly Phonics letter sounds on one free printable chart PDF — in teaching order with an example word for every sound.
Words With the /e/ Sound
e is a short vowel, so it almost never sits alone at the very end of a word the way a consonant does — here are honest beginning and middle lists only, not a forced “end” list.
Beginning:
- egg
- elf
- elbow
- empty
- edge
- elk
Middle:
- bed
- hen
- pen
- ten
- net
- leg
- web
- red
Blend it: sound out each letter, then say the whole word.
- b-e-d → bed
- h-e-n → hen
- p-e-t → pet
- n-e-t → net
- l-e-g → leg
Watch out: a silent e at the end of a word, like in bike, cake, and home, changes the vowel before it and is not the short e sound itself — it is worth pointing that out once your child starts noticing the letter e everywhere.
Ways to spell it: at this stage there is really only one spelling to teach — just the letter e, as in egg, bed, pen, and net. Trickier spellings come much later.
Watch: How the /e/ Sound Is Made
Four Quick /e/ Activities to Try Today
Sound hunt (2 minutes): walk around the house or yard and name things that start with e — egg, elbow, an empty cup — cheering every time your child spots one first.
Listen and mark (3 minutes): use the game sheet below. Say a word out loud and have your child mark true if they hear /e/ and false if they do not.
Trace it (5 minutes): grab the tracing worksheet in the section below and practice writing e while saying eh, eh, eh out loud with every stroke.
Blend it with flashcards (5 minutes): lay out the flashcards below and build simple words together — bed, hen, net — sounding out each letter before blending it into the whole word. You can also download the full phase 2 flashcards set for more combinations.
Free /e/ Tracing Worksheet
Print the worksheet above using the button below, and for even more practice pages see our letter E e tracing worksheets.
Where /e/ Fits in the Jolly Phonics Order
e is the third sound in Jolly Phonics Group 2 (c, k, e, h, r, m, d), taught after the /c/ sound and before the /h/ sound. For the full teaching order and every sound in between, see our Jolly Phonics complete guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the phonics e sound?
The phonics e sound is the short vowel sound heard in egg, bed, and pen, not the name of the letter e. It is the third sound taught in Jolly Phonics Group 2.
How do I teach my child the /e/ sound?
Model the sound with your mouth half open and lips slightly spread, use the official cracking-an-egg action, and practice with real words like bed, hen, and net before moving on to blending.
What age do children usually learn the /e/ sound?
Most children meet it in Reception or kindergarten, around age four to five, shortly after learning c and k.
Why do children confuse e with a and i?
Pen, pan, and pin are made in almost the same part of the mouth, so children often swap the vowel sound. Exaggerating how wide your mouth opens for each word helps them hear the difference.
This is very helpful!
I have a child who is enrolled in the homeschool program of for preschool and they are learning Phonics now. Hope you can share more blogs like this. It really is very helpful for moms like me. More power to your blog!
you are more than welcome