award
Pronounceduh-WARD
nounA prize or medal that someone wins for doing something well.
verbTo give a prize or medal to someone.
nounMoney that is given to pay for a project or research.
nounA decision made by someone in charge about who should have something.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Schwa
Sound“uh”·/ə/
In unstressed syllables, vowels often make a lazy 'uh' sound called schwa, like the A in 'about'.
Schwa “uh” is the most common vowel sound in English. Any vowel letter can make the schwa sound when it's in an unstressed syllable. It sounds like a quick, lazy 'uh'.
Tip
Schwa is lazy — any vowel can say 'uh' when it's not stressed!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter W
Sound“w”·/w/
The letter W makes the /w/ sound, like in 'win', 'wet', and 'web'. The lips round into an O shape.
W is a voiced bilabial approximant — the lips round tightly then open as voice flows. W is sometimes silent (write, wrong) and can act as a vowel in some combinations (aw, ew, ow).
Tip
W rounds your lips — make an O then say /w/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: W changes AR to “or”
Sound“or”·/ɔːr/
After W, the letters AR say “or” instead of “ar”, like in 'war' and 'warm'.
W changes the sound of AR: instead of the “ar” in 'car', AR after W says “or” (the 'or' sound): war, warm, ward, swarm, dwarf.
Tip
W changes AR to OR — war, warm, ward!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter D
Sound“d”·/d/
The letter D makes the /d/ sound, like in 'dog', 'day', and 'dig'. The tongue tip touches behind the upper teeth.
D is a voiced alveolar stop. The tongue tip touches the ridge just behind the upper front teeth, then releases with voice. It reliably makes the /d/ sound in almost all positions.
Tip
D is for dog — and dog starts with /d/!
Examples
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