ghosts
PronouncedGOHSTS
nounSpirits of dead people that appear to living people.
nounPale or faint shapes that are hard to see clearly.
nounUnwanted extra images that appear on a screen or in a photo by mistake.
nounPeople who write books or make art for someone else who takes the credit.
nounComputer players in racing games that follow paths you have already driven.
Phonics breakdown
When GH begins a word, it makes the hard /g/ sound and the H is silent — ghost, ghetto, ghoul. (At the end of a word GH is usually silent or says /f/ — those are different rules.)
Tip
A spooky ghost — GH says /g/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Open Syllable O (Long O)
Sound“oh”·/oʊ/
When O is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the O says its name “oh” — like in 'go' and 'no'.
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves it 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone O at the end of a syllable says “oh” (go, no, so, o-pen). The O also says its long name in the 'old' and 'ost' families (cold, most). The long O sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — silent E (home) or vowel teams (oa in boat, ow in snow) — but those are not open syllables.
Tip
Long O says its name — O!
Examples
Phonics Rule: ST Blend
Sound“st”·/st/
S and T blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'stop' and 'fast'.
The blend ST combines /s/ and /t/ spoken quickly together. It can appear at the beginning or end of a word.
Examples
Phonics Rule: Plural -S (/s/ sound)
Sound“s”·/s/
After a quiet sound like p, t, k or f, the plural ending says /s/ — like 'cats' and 'cakes'.
Say 'ssss' and then 'zzzz' with a finger on your throat — only 'zzzz' buzzes. When the word already ends in a quiet (unvoiced) sound like p, t, k or f, the plural ending stays quiet too and says /s/. This happens whether the word is spelled -s (cats) or -es (cakes, notes), because in cakes the e is silent and only the s is sounded.
Examples
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