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Syllable Division Rules

Syllable division rules show us how to break up a multi-syllable word into its syllable parts. There are six
main syllable division “rules” to guide us.

How is Syllable Division done?

It all starts with the vowels. Find the vowels in the word. It helps to underline or highlight them.
Find the patten of the consonants and vowels (VCV, VCCV, VCCCV, VCCCCV, C+le, VV).
Use the syllable division rule (shown below) to divide the word into its syllable parts.

Why Should we Teach Syllable Division?

Learning the rules of syllable division provides our students with an e ective strategy for chunking up
those bigger words into more manageable parts. I see it as another “tool” for their “tool belt” that leads
to more accuracy while reading.

Understanding syllable division also helps students to determine what the vowel sound will be. As I
learn more, I see this works best when incorporated with morphology (think pre xes, su xes, and
roots). When I rst learned syllable division, I only learned syllable division without the consideration of
morphemes (which are the smallest units of meaning in our language). I now teach my students to look
for familiar pre xes, su xes, and even roots (for older kids) rst. If there aren’t any, then begin syllable
division.

To get to that point though, we need to teach them those syllable division rules and give them enough
practice with them so that it becomes more automatic. All the while, I’m teaching new pre xes and
su xes to them so those can also become more familiar.  I think the two actually go together well. But I
digress! Back to syllable division!

The rst thing to know is that every syllable must have a written vowel. The very de nition of a syllable is
an uninterrupted unit of speech with one vowel  sound .
Syllable Division “Rules”
Here are the syllable division rules on one page:
  Here is a picture from my classroom: 
As I mentioned above, rst thing to know about syllable division is that it’s all about vowels!

Every syllable needs a vowel, so we can determine (usually) how many syllables there are based on the
number of vowels.

Vowel teams and diphthongs count as one syllable even if there are two vowels because they
work together to make one sound. 
Same with silent e. The e doesn’t make a sound so it doesn’t get it’s own syllable.
The exception of course is the syllable type consonant -le. This syllable is found in words like
little, bubble, table. You cannot hear the e, but it does get its own syllable. It buddies with the
l before it and the consonant before the l. More about that later, though!

Syllable Division Rules

The following slides show the main syllable division rules. 

Rule #1: Two consonants between the vowels: VCCV Pattern

The rst syllable division rule is VC/VC, which stands for vowel-consonant-consonant-vowel. Train your
students to nd the vowels in the word. They are our starting point. In words with the VCCV pattern,
there are two consonants between the two vowels.  Usually , we split between those consonants.
See the step by step directions with blue and yellow letters below. (Before teaching this, you should
teach your students about open and closed syllable types.  For the word  basket,   split between
the  s  and  k.   The rst syllable is  bas  and the second syllable is  ket . Each syllable has a vowel.
Of course there are always exceptions.

One exception is when there are R or L blends, like in the word secret. We keep R and L blends
together, so instead of splitting between those consonants, we keep them together and move
them to the second syllable.
We also keep digraphs and units (ing, ink, ang, ank, ost, olt, ind, ild, olt) together.  Never split those!
Rule #2 & 3: One Consonant between the Vowels: VCV Pattern 

There are two options here! This slide shows both ways.
More commonly, you would split VCV syllables the before that consonant. This leaves your rst syllable
open, so the vowel would be long.

In the word  silent,  the letter l is the middle consonant between the vowels. We move that to be with
the 2nd syllable: si-lent.
In the word bonus, the letter n is the middle consonant between the vowels. We move that to be
with the second syllable, leaving the rst syllable open (because it ends with a vowel) bo-nus
Sometimes  though, we do the opposite. Sometimes, we split VCV syllables after the consonant. In this
case, we close that rst syllable, leaving that vowel short.

In the word  robin,  the middle consonant b moves with the 1st syllable making rob-in. The rst
syllable rob is closed by the b.
In the word visit, the middle consonant s moves with the 1st syllable making vis-it. The rst syllable
vis is closed by the v.
Rule #4: Three consonants between the vowels.
In the case of three consonants between the vowels, we usually split after the rst consonant.

In the word con ict , the letter n are between the vowels. The rst consonant n goes with the rst
syllable and the other two ( ) go to the 2nd syllable: con- ict.

See below that there are the usual exceptions.

We never split digraphs, blends, or units.

Also, a word this big can often be a compound word. Instead, you would split between the two
words.
Rule #5: Four Consonants Between the Vowels
This is super similar to the last one. Split after the rst consonant, unless it is a compound word. There
are not as many of these words, and honestly when you’re getting into words this big, I tend to shift my
focus to morphology.
Rule #6: Consonant -le
On paper, I’ve always had this as #6, but I actually found myself teaching this one after #3 because it
came up earlier since it is so common. A great example is the word  little.   

Following this rule, we see the -le at the end and count one back to make lit-tle. Consonant +le in this
word is t+le.

This is the syllable type where there is no vowel sound. You only hear the consonant and the /l/ or /ul/.
Rule #7: V/V
When there are two vowels next to each other, but they are not vowel teams or diphthongs (more than
one letter making one sound together), then you split between the vowels. These two vowels do not
share a sound. I think this is the hardest for my students to decode usually. I wait to teach this one
because it can be very confusing!
That rst vowel is always long and that second one usually sounds like a schwa.
Compound Words
I’ve already mentioned this a few times as an exception to the other rules, but it’s really a rule all on its
own. If the word is a compound words, don’t worry about the other rules, just split between those two
words.
A ixes: Pre xes and Su ixes
I almost put this one rst because it’s so important, but I didn’t want to confuse. It is super helpful for
students to get in the habit of always looking for pre xes and su xes. This starts in kindergarten with
the su x -s!

I teach my students to always “chunk out” the pre xes and su xes and to focus on the base word  rst.
This requires direct instruction with all the di erent pre xes and su xes.

In rst grade, they commonly will see -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, -est, re and un. 2nd graders regularly see -ly,
-ment, -ful, -less, -able, pre-, dis-, mis-, and so many more!

In some cases, su xes like -ed don’t necessarily make a new syllable (jumped, camped, etc), while in
others (rented, busted) it does make another syllable. But that’s even more reason to teach them about
pre xes and su xes! Our students will cover the -ed in jumped, then see only one vowel and one
syllable. After reading  jump,  they will then uncover -ed and decide how to pronounce it “jumpt, jump-
ed, or jumpd”.

You can learn more about this HERE.

3 Syllable Words: 
When dividing a word with more than two syllables, rst check for a xes (pre xes and su xes). Then
start at the left with the rst two vowels, divide those syllables, then move to the right.
If you’re interested in just these syllable division posters and some practice pages with all syllable
types, you can nd them HERE.  The practice  pages come in two formats: tabbed notebook (shown
below) and also regular full-page worksheets.

Resources for Syllable Division

Here is a sneak peak of a few of the practice pages.

And because I’m so indecisive and have created and recreated so many posters over the years, I
included all sets of visuals shown in this post. You can just choose your favorite and print!
However, if you already own my Syllable Division with Open and Closed Syllables, I also added these
posters to that pack! You can nd that HERE.
(If you’re wondering what the di erence is, this pack above has a lot more practice pages, but just
focuses on open and closed syllables because it is part of my systematic units and has detailed lesson
plans. The new, smaller pack above that has just the posters and 40 practice pages for all syllable
division rules. It includes open and closed syllables then has another section with all the other syllable
types. It is not part of the systematic units and does not have the detailed lesson plans.)

Here are a couple of syllable activities that I’ve done:

For these two, I put the rst syllable in one color and the 2nd on another color. Students read the
syllables and matched them to make real words.

This next activity was a review activity after learning all syllable types. I wrote words on note cards. I
gave each student one at a time. They read the card to the group and then together we determined
which pattern it followed. (Students would copy the word on their white board rst and do the syllable
division individually.) We sorted them into the correct column. The next day I used colored
transparencies to chunk a certain syllable. For each word, I would ask for the rst or second syllable. 
Students would say the syllable and then we would highlight that part.
What are Syllable Types?
This post is all about the syllable  division rules.  But you also will want to know the syllable  types . As I
mentioned above, I have a pack that focuses on syllable division with  only  open and closed syllables,
which are two of the 7 syllable  types .  Want to read about the other syllable types? Click HERE to read
more about syllable types.

Filed Under: Dyslexia, Orton-Gillingham, phonics, reading, word work

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