ER (Bossy R): Word List & Practice
ER (Bossy R) words follow one repeating pattern, so a child who can read one of them has most of what they need to read the rest. This list has 15 grade 1–2-level words plus 4 decodable sentences. Practice them out loud — the most common error is guessing between 'er', 'ir', and 'ur' when spelling.
- her
- herd
- germ
- term
- fern
- verb
- clerk
- person
- winter
- summer
- sister
- brother
- water
- under
- letter
Practice these words out loud
Have your child read these sentences to Word Wiz AI. It listens and shows exactly which sounds they missed, not just whether the word was right. Free, no sign-up needed to try.
Try these out loudDecodable Sentences
Every word in these sentences uses sounds your child has already learned, so they can be read by decoding rather than guessing.
- Her sister sat under the fern.
- Winter water is colder.
- The person sent a letter.
- My brother knows the term.
How to Teach ER (Bossy R) Words
'Er,' 'ir,' and 'ur' all make the same sound, which is the single most important thing to tell a child about them. Presented as three separate lessons they feel like three arbitrary rules; presented as triplets that sound identical but are spelled differently, they become one fact with three cases.
'Er' is by far the most common of the three, especially at the end of words, where it does grammatical work - it turns a verb into a doer ('teach' to 'teacher') and makes comparisons ('cold' to 'colder'). Pointing that out gives a child a way to predict the spelling rather than guess, which is where most of the difficulty in this family actually sits.
Common Mistakes to Watch For
- Guessing between 'er', 'ir', and 'ur' when spelling
- Missing unstressed 'er' at the end of longer words
- Trying to sound out e and r separately