ER, IR, UR Sounds

“er”, “ir”, and “ur” all produce the same sound in many cases. For example, the words her, sir and fur have the same sound. These sounds are considered “r-controlled vowels” because the “r” modifies the sound of the vowel that precedes it.

The following diagram shows some examples of er, ir and ur words. Scroll down the page for more examples.

 

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When to Use “er,” “ir,” and “ur”
Unfortunately, there aren’t perfect rules to determine which spelling to use. However, there are some tendencies:

1. “er” is most common: This is the most frequent spelling for this sound. It’s often found at the end of words or syllables.
   Examples: teacher, paper, better, under
   
2. “ir” often appears in words of Latin origin:
   Examples: bird, first, girl, shirt, circle
   
3. “ur” often appears after certain consonant sounds like /b/, /f/, /p/, /t/, /k/:
   Examples: burn, fur, purple, turn, hurt
   

The tendencies mentioned above are helpful, but memorization and practice are the most effective ways to learn the correct spellings.

Reading Strategy: er ir ur
In many words, er, ir and ur have the same sound.

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UR ER IR - R controlled vowels song

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Pronounce ER

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ir - Phonics - whirl, girl, dirt

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Phonics and the ur sound
fur, burn, surf, curtain, yogurt

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er ir ur - Alternative spellings

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Other Digraphs
AR Sound	Er,Ir,Ur	OR Sound
Ar,Er,Ir,Or,Ur	Ou, Ow	Oi, Oy
OO Sound

Free Printable Worksheets for Consonant Digraphs

These worksheets focus on the consonant digraphs: ch, sh, th, qu and ng.

Printable Worksheets (Consonant Digraphs)
Learning "ch"	Learning "sh"
Learning "th"	Learning "qu"
Learning "ng"

Free Printable Worksheets for Digraphs

Printable Worksheets (EE, OO, OU, OI, AW)
EE Words	OO Words
OI Words	AW Words

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