Diphthong (ow as in cow) Worksheets

Free printable diphthong — ow phonics worksheets. Five practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, rapid naming chart, and word search.

Grade: 1st-2nd Phase 4: Vowel Teams & Advanced Pattern: OW diphthong (as in "cow", not "snow")
cow how now vow wow brow chow plow town down gown brown

1 Decodable Reader

A free illustrated mini-book for Diphthong — OW, plus the same story as a passage sheet for highlighting.

Pip's Brown Cow mini-book cover
Free illustrated mini-book · Level 4

Pip's Brown Cow

A full-color picture book your student reads on their own. Skill: Diphthong — OW. Print, cut and staple.

Pip's Brown Cow, page 1Pip's Brown Cow, page 2Pip's Brown Cow, page 3Pip's Brown Cow, page 4
Want the whole level? 43 Level 4 mini-books in one file, $14Every book stays free to print one at a time. See the pack →
Passage sheet: the same story on one page, for highlighting the target words

Pip had a big brown cow. The cow was sad. She sat down in her pen with a grim frown. Pip did not know how to help his cow. He went down the path past the old plow. Pip spotted a red flower by the wall. He picked the flower and took it to the cow's pen. "Wow," said Pip. "Look at this flower. Is it not pretty?" The brown cow looked at the flower. Now she did not frown. She stood up and gave Pip a lick. "Oh, cow!" Pip said with a laugh. "I am glad you are better."

Circle or highlight all the OW diphthong words in the story above. How many did you find?
ou and ow poster
Free color poster

ou and ow

ou comes in the middle of a word. ow comes at the end, or before n or l.

Download poster (PDF)

Print it full size for the wall, or smaller for a phonics notebook.

See all 63 phonics rules posters →  ·  or get all 63 in one file for $7, with a notebook-size copy

2 Diphthong — OW Words

The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.

Real Words (10)

cow, how, now, vow, wow, brow, chow, plow, town, down

Nonsense Words (6)

zown, vowl, jown, mowd, skown, yow

Phrases to read
a brown cow · a clown in town · a crown and a gown · how now · frown and growl · wow, a flower · powder on his brow · plow the ground · chow down
RAN chart words
cow, wow, town, clown, crowd
Sight words
the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have, with, you, are, be

3 OI, OY, OU and OW Picture Worksheets

OI, OY, OU and OW words to read, match and write, with pictures. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.

Find the Word: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Find the Word

Look at each picture and circle the right word out of three.

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Circle the Picture: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Circle the Picture

Read a word, then circle its picture out of three.

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Which Sentence?: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Which Sentence?

Look at a picture and pick the sentence that matches it.

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Read and Fill In: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Read and Fill In

Read a short story, then fill in the missing words.

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Sound Boxes: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Sound Boxes

Say each picture and write its sounds in the boxes.

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Read and Match: a oi, oy, ou and ow picture worksheet

Read and Match

Read each word, then draw a line to its picture.

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Level 4 Word Work: Vowel Teams pack cover

Level 4 Word Work pack: all 120 vowel team worksheets in one file

The sheets above are free. The pack is every sheet for the long vowel teams, oo, au and aw, ar, or, er, ir and ur, oi and ou in order, a silent letters and review set and all the answer keys, ready to print.

Get the pack for $7 See every kind of sheet

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4 Story Worksheets

4 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's diphthong — ow words. Each one opens as its own file.

Diphthong — OW word sort printable preview

Word Sort

Cut-apart word cards to sort: Real Words or Nonsense Words. Answer key on page 2.

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Diphthong — OW phrasing cards printable preview

Phrasing Cards

Short phrases to cut out and read smoothly, for fluency.

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Diphthong — OW word search printable preview

Word Search

Find 12 diphthong — ow words in the grid. Answer key on page 2.

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Diphthong — OW ran chart printable preview

RAN Chart

A grid of five words to read fast, with room to record three timed tries.

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← Other Sounds of OU Worksheets View All Phonics Skills Silent Letters (kn, wr, mb) Worksheets →

Free Printable Diphthong (ow as in cow) Worksheets

These free diphthong (ow as in cow) worksheets provide structured phonics practice for the OW diphthong (as in "cow", not "snow"). Activities include a decodable passage embedding target words in a fun story, a word sort activity to distinguish real and nonsense words, phrasing practice cards for fluency building, and a rapid naming (RAN) chart for automaticity. Each worksheet prints cleanly on standard US Letter paper.

For more early literacy resources, explore our sight word flashcards, tracing worksheets, handwriting worksheets, and coloring pages.