SnapPhonics

grocer

PronouncedGROH-ser

/ˈɡroʊ.sər/noun
  1. nounA person who owns or works in a shop that sells food and household goods.

  2. nounA shop where you can buy food and things for your home.

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Syllables

grocer

2 syllables

Letters

Base word

groce

Related words (same phonics pattern)

Phonics breakdown

gr

Phonics Rule: GR Blend

Sound“gr”·/ɡr/

G and R blend together — you hear both sounds! Like in 'green' and 'grow'.

The blend GR combines /ɡ/ and /r/ spoken quickly together.

Examples

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

c

Phonics Rule: Soft C

Sound“s”·/s/

C says /s/ before E, I, or Y, like in 'city' and 'face'.

When C comes before the letters E, I, or Y, it makes the soft /s/ sound instead of the hard /k/ sound. This is called 'Soft C'.

Tip

C is soft before E, I, Y — the city is nice!

Examples

er

Phonics Rule: Suffix -ER

Sound“er”·/ɜːr/

Adding -ER can mean 'more' (bigger) or 'a person who' (teacher).

The suffix -er has two main uses: comparative ('big' → 'bigger' = more big) and agent ('teach' → 'teacher' = a person who teaches).

Examples

What is SnapPhonics?

A phonics reference for teachers, parents and learners. Every English word, broken into the sounds that make it — with audio, syllables, and the rule behind each spelling.

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