Free printable diphthong — ow phonics worksheets. Four practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, and rapid naming chart.
Grade: 1st-2ndPhase 4: Vowel Teams & AdvancedPattern: OW diphthong (as in "cow", not "snow")
cowhownowvowwowbrowchowplowtowndowngownbrown
1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding diphthong — ow words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Pip's Brown Cow
Skill: Diphthong — OW • Sight Words: the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have, with, you, are, be
Coloring page included in PDF
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?
Cut out the word cards and sort them into the correct columns: Real Words vs Nonsense Words.
Real Words
Nonsense Words
cow
how
now
vow
wow
brow
chow
plow
town
down
rowx
fowx
vowx
jowx
bowx
cowx
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3 Phrasing Practice Cards
Practice reading these phrases for fluency. Cut out the cards and read them quickly and smoothly.
the cow on how
a how in now
the now and vow
a vow with wow
the wow on brow
a brow in chow
the chow and plow
a plow with town
the town on down
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4 RAN Chart (Rapid Naming)
Read each word in the grid as quickly as you can. Time yourself and try to beat your best time!
Decodable RAN Chart — Diphthong — OW
town
wow
cow
town
clown
crowd
cow
crowd
cow
cow
clown
wow
wow
crowd
clown
town
Target words: cow, wow, town, clown, crowd
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5 Word Search
Find and circle the diphthong — ow words hidden in the grid. Words go across, down, and diagonally — a fun way to reinforce diphthong — ow word recognition.
Diphthong — OW Word Search
Q
C
H
O
W
L
R
B
B
V
D
H
X
T
H
O
W
R
S
U
N
O
J
B
C
Z
C
O
S
P
V
U
W
G
U
O
I
W
U
L
D
Y
B
N
D
N
W
N
K
O
T
Y
X
R
E
S
W
Q
K
W
G
O
W
N
O
Z
V
O
W
K
X
E
W
T
N
W
L
L
W
Q
D
U
X
N
C
O
Q
D
P
X
E
D
W
H
H
D
W
A
Y
C
BROWBROWNCHOWCOWDOWNGOWNHOWNOWPLOWTOWNVOWWOW
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📖 Decodable Readers for Diphthong — OW
Next step: once your child can sound out these words, have them read a matching decodable mini-book. Each Diphthong — OW reader is a printable story + coloring page using only sounds they've learned.
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.
