Grade 2 Phonics, Decoding & Spelling Patterns: Missing & Hidden Letters
10 printable 2nd Grade phonics worksheets on Missing & Hidden Letters. The first three are free to download; All Access opens all 10.
Practice pages support a program; they are not the lesson. These sheets reinforce Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency — Grade 2, the complete K–5 reading curriculum from Faith Readers. See every program →
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Teaching Missing & Hidden Letters
What it is
These pages give a word with letters left out, or a letter buried among others, and the child supplies what is missing: r_ _ n for rain, th_mb for thumb. Filling the gap forces attention onto the sounds inside a word instead of letting the child recognize it whole.
When a child is ready
A child is ready once the sounds of a word can be said in order, since the missing letter is found by sound rather than by remembering how the word looks.
If they struggle
Have the child say the word slowly, tap one finger per sound, then line the taps up with the blanks. If the blank belongs to a vowel team or a silent letter, name the pattern for them ('this one is an ai word') instead of leaving a single letter to be guessed at.
Worksheet preview
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