IR (Bossy R): Word List & Practice
IR (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 14 grade 1–2-level words plus 4 decodable sentences. Practice them out loud — the most common error is substituting 'er' or 'ur' when spelling 'ir' words.
- bird
- girl
- first
- third
- shirt
- skirt
- dirt
- stir
- sir
- firm
- birth
- thirty
- circle
- circus
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.
- The first girl wore a shirt.
- A bird sat in the dirt.
- Stir the third circle.
- Thirty went to the circus.
How to Teach IR (Bossy R) Words
'Ir' sounds exactly like 'er' and 'ur,' so it cannot be told apart by ear. What makes it learnable is that the 'ir' group is relatively small and full of very common words - bird, girl, first, third, shirt. Learning those specific words as a set is more efficient than trying to derive which spelling a word uses.
A pattern worth noticing: the ordinal numbers 'third' and 'thirty' both use 'ir,' as does 'first.' Number words come up constantly, so anchoring the spelling to counting gives a child a reliable place to check their memory from.
Common Mistakes to Watch For
- Substituting 'er' or 'ur' when spelling 'ir' words
- Reading 'ir' with a short i sound
- Confusing 'girl' and 'grill' by transposing letters