In the English language, a phoneme is a unit having a unique sound separating a word from another. It is the smallest unit of sound in speech. Kids are often introduced to the language and its new words with the help of phonemes. For example, when you tell a kid about the word ‘bat’, you make it easier for them by showing that the word has three different sounds. ‘b’, ‘a’, and ‘t’. Now, phoneme segmentation is the ability to break words down to single sounds. For example, band as ‘/bbb/, /aaa/, /nnn/, and /d/.
Why Segmenting is Important ?
Segmenting words into phonemes is really important for improving the reading and spelling skills of a learner. Children must be taught this way because to learn to write words in the first place, a child must be able to break the word down with its sound and understand each syllable of it. Better the phonemic skills, quicker the learning. So, here are some easy examples of words segmented into phonemes
Examples of Words Segmented into Phonemes
| Words | Phonemes |
| Bat | /b/ /a/ /t/ |
| Ball | /b/ /a/ /l/ /l/ |
| Cat | /c/ /a/ /t/ |
| Dog | /d/ /o/ /g/ |
| Lion | /l/ /i/ /o/ /n/ |
| Tiger | /t/ /i/ /g/ /e/ /r/ |
| Old | /o/ /l/ /d/ |
| New | /n/ /e/ /w/ |
| Hot | /h/ /o/ /t/ |
| Cold | /c/ /o/ /l/ /d/ |
| Red | /r/ /e/ /d/ |
| Blue | /b/ /l/ /u/ /e/ |
| Green | /g/ /r/ /e/ /e/ /n/ |
| Yellow | /y/ /e/ /l/ /l/ /o/ /w/ |
| Black | /b/ /l/ /a/ /c/ /k/ |
| White | /w/ /h/ /i/ /t/ /e/ |
| Table | /t/ /a/ /b/ /l/ /e/ |
| Chair | /c/ /h/ /a/ /i/ /r/ |
| Food | /f/ /o/ /o/ /d/ |
| Water | /w/ /a/ /t/ /e/ /r/ |
| Air | /a/ /i/ /r/ |
| Love | /l/ /o/ /v/ /e/ |
| Cake | /c/ /a/ /k/ /e/ |
| Dinner | /d/ /i/ /n/ /n/ /e/ /r/ |
| Lunch | /l/ /u/ /n/ /c/ /h/ |
| Talk | /t/ /a/ /l/ /k/ |
| Sleep | /s/ /l/ /e/ /e/ /p/ |
| Play | /p/ /l/ /a/ /y/ |
| Watch | /w/ /a/ /t/ /c/ /h/ |
| Up | /u/ /p/ |
| Down | /d/ /o/ /w/ /n/ |
| Left | /l/ /e/ /f/ /t/ |
| Right | /r/ /i/ /g/ /h/ /t/ |
| Good | /g/ /o/ /o/ /d/ |
| Bad | /b/ /a/ /d/ |
| Evil | /e/ /v/ /i/ /l/ |
| Belt | /b/ /e/ /l/ /t/ |
| Pant | /p/ /a/ /n/ /t/ |
| Shirt | /s/ /h/ /i/ /r/ /t/ |
| Jeans | /j/ /e/ /a/ /n/ /s/ |
| Trousers | /t/ /r/ /o/ /u/ /s/ /e/ /r/ /s/ |
| Pizza | /p/ /i/ /z/ /z/ /e/ |
| Pasta | /p/ /a/ /s/ /t/ /a/ |
| Burger | /b/ /u/ /r/ /g/ /e/ /r/ |
| Sea | /s/ /e/ /a/ |
| Ocean | /o/ /c/ /e/ /a/ /n/ |
| River | /r/ /i/ /v/ /e/ /r/ |
| Lake | /l/ /a/ /k/ /e/ |
| Pond | /p/ /o/ /n/ /d/ |
| Beach | /b/ /e/ /a/ /c/ /h/ |
| Park | /p/ /a/ /r/ /k/ |
| Animal | /a/ /n/ /i/ /m/ /a/ /l/ |
| Human | /h/ /u/ /m/ /a/ /n/ |
| Bed | /b/ /e/ /d/ |
| Lamp | /l/ /a/ /m/ /p/ |
| Watch | /w/ /a/ /t/ /c/ /h/ |
| Car | /c/ /a/ /r/ |
| Bike | /b/ /i/ /k/ /e/ |
| Boat | /b/ /o/ /a/ /t/ |
| Truck | /t/ /r/ /u/ /c/ /k/ |
| Bus | /b/ /u/ /s/ |
| Train | /t/ /r/ /a/ /i/ /n/ |
| Salad | /s/ /a/ /l/ /a/ /d/ |
| Cloth | /c/ /l/ /o/ /t/ /h/ |
| Grass | /g/ /r/ /a/ /s/ /s/ |
| Flower | /f/ /l/ /o/ /w/ /e/ /r/ |
| Map | /m/ /a/ /p/ |
| Cheetah | /c/ /h/ /e/ /e/ /t/ /a/ /h/ |
| Koala | /k/ /o/ /a/ /l/ /a/ |
| Cabin | /c/ /a/ /b/ /i/ /n/ |
| Home | /h/ /o/ /m/ /e/ |
| Forest | /f/ /o/ /r/ /e/ /s/ /t/ |
| Jog | /j/ /o/ /g/ |
| Run | /r/ /u/ /n/ |
| Gym | /g/ /y/ /m/ |
| Card | /c/ /a/ /r/ /d/ |
| Gift | /g/ /i/ /f/ /t/ |
| Can | /c/ /a/ /n/ |
| Cod | /c/ /a/ /n/ |
| Jar | /j/ /a/ /r/ |
Keep exploring EnglishBix for quality resources for kids to learn how to break a word into small parts.