brushwork
PronouncedBRUHSH-werk
The way an artist uses a paintbrush to put paint on a canvas, like the marks and strokes they make.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: BR Blend
Sound“br”·/br/
B and R blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'brown' and 'bring'.
The blend BR combines /b/ and /r/ spoken quickly together.
Examples
When the letter U appears in a closed syllable, it usually makes the short U sound “uh”. This sounds like 'uh'.
Tip
U says “uh” like 'uh-oh, what's up?'
Examples
Phonics Rule: SH Digraph
Sound“sh”·/ʃ/
S and H together make the quiet sound “sh”, like in 'ship' and 'fish'.
The digraph 'sh' makes the “sh” sound. Think of the 'shh, be quiet' sound. It can appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Tip
SH says 'shhh' — be quiet on the ship!
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: R-Controlled OR (as “er”)
Sound“er”·/ɜːr/
After W, the letters OR say “er” instead of “or” — like 'word' and 'work'.
When OR follows W, it makes the “er” sound (same as ER, IR, UR). This is a small but predictable group of words. Companion rule to r_controlled_or.
Tip
W+OR sounds like ER — work, word, world!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter K
Sound“k”·/k/
The letter K makes the /k/ sound, like in 'kite', 'kit', and 'king'.
K always makes the /k/ sound. It is used before E, I, and Y where C would make an /s/ sound instead. K is silent before N at the start of a word (knife, know).
Tip
K is for kite — and kite starts with /k/!
Examples
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