Language & Literature · Unit 1

Letters and Sounds

The alphabet, letter sounds, rhyme and syllables

Reading begins with the discovery that marks on a page stand for sounds, and that a small set of marks can be recombined into every word there is.

The unit covers the alphabet, letter sounds, vowels and consonants, rhyme, and syllables as the beats a word breaks into.

This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 110 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 2. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 18
Questions: 110
Difficulty: 1-2

What this unit covers

Syllables and Beats
Letter Sounds
Rhyming Words
The Alphabet
Vowels and Consonants

Where this fits

The first unit in the track. Everything else assumes it.

Where people slip

English spelling is unusually irregular because it borrowed from many languages and kept their spellings. That is a fact about history, not a failure of the learner.

How the unit is structured

Letters and Sounds runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 2 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 18 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 110 in the unit altogether.

Letter Sounds

Fill the blankLevel 1
1. The word "hat" begins with the sound of the letter ____.
- hcorrect
- a
- t
- c
Hat starts with the h sound, which is the letter h.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
2. Which letter makes the first sound in the word "sun"?
- Scorrect
- U
- N
- T
The word sun starts with the letter s and its sound.
Odd one outLevel 1
3. Which word does NOT start with the same sound as "pig"?
- cupcorrect
- pan
- pot
- pig
Pig, pan and pot all start with the p sound, but cup does not.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
4. Build a correct sentence using letter sounds you know.
Answer: The cat sat on the mat
'The cat sat on the mat' is a complete sentence made of simple sounded-out words.
Fact or fibLevel 2
5. In English, the letter Q is almost always followed by the letter U.
Answer: True
Words like 'queen' and 'quick' show that Q is almost always paired with U.
Match the pairsLevel 2
6. Match each word to the letter that makes its first sound.
Answer: dog = D; fish = F; hat = H; cup = C
Matching the first sound of a word to its letter helps you read and spell it.

Rhyming Words

Choose all that applyLevel 1
7. Which of these words rhyme with "day"? Pick all that apply.
- playcorrect
- waycorrect
- dog
- cup
Play and way both end with the same ay sound as day.
Match the pairsLevel 1
8. Match each word to a word that rhymes with it.
Answer: cat = hat; big = pig; red = bed
Cat rhymes with hat, big rhymes with pig, and red rhymes with bed.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
9. Which word rhymes with "cat"?
- hatcorrect
- dog
- pen
- sun
Cat and hat both end with the same at sound, so they rhyme.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
10. Build a correct sentence using rhyming words.
Answer: The cat sat on a mat
'cat', 'sat' and 'mat' all rhyme with each other in this sentence.
Fact or fibLevel 2
11. The words 'cake' and 'book' rhyme with each other.
Answer: False
'Cake' and 'book' end with different sounds, so they do not rhyme.
Fill the blankLevel 2
12. A word that ends with the same sound as another word is called a ____ word.
- rhymingcorrect
- naming
- action
- silent
Words that end with the same sound, like 'cat' and 'hat', are rhyming words.

Syllables and Beats

Fact or fibLevel 1
13. The word "cat" has two syllables.
Answer: False
Cat is said in a single beat, so it has only one syllable, not two.
Fill the blankLevel 1
14. Each beat you clap in a word is called a ____.
- syllablecorrect
- vowel
- rhyme
- letter
A beat you clap out in a word is called a syllable.
Guess the numberLevel 1
15. How many syllables, or beats, does the word "elephant" have?
Answer: 3 syllables
El-e-phant is said with three beats, so it has three syllables.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
16. Build a correct sentence about the word cat.
Answer: The word cat has one syllable
'The word cat has one syllable' correctly describes the word cat.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
17. Which of these words have exactly two syllables? Pick all that apply.
- applecorrect
- happycorrect
- cat
- sun
'Apple' (ap-ple) and 'happy' (hap-py) each have two beats, while 'cat' and 'sun' have only one.
Match the pairsLevel 2
18. Match each word to how many syllables it has.
Answer: cat = 1 syllable; apple = 2 syllables; banana = 3 syllables; watermelon = 4 syllables
Cat has 1 beat, apple has 2, banana has 3, and watermelon has 4.

The Alphabet

Fill the blankLevel 1
19. The last letter of the English alphabet is ____.
- Zcorrect
- A
- M
- Y
Z is the 26th and final letter of the alphabet.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
20. Which letter comes first in the alphabet?
- Acorrect
- B
- Z
- M
The alphabet always starts with the letter A.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
21. Which of these letters come before the letter H in the alphabet? Pick all that apply.
- Ecorrect
- K
- Ccorrect
- M
E and C both come earlier in the alphabet than H, while K and M come later.
Fact or fibLevel 2
22. The alphabet has both capital letters and lowercase letters.
Answer: True
Every letter has a capital form, like A, and a lowercase form, like a.
Guess the numberLevel 2
23. How many letters come before the letter E in the alphabet?
Answer: 4 letters
A, B, C and D come before E, which is 4 letters.
Match the pairsLevel 2
24. Match each letter to the letter that comes right after it in the alphabet.
Answer: A = B; C = D; G = H; M = N
Knowing letter order helps you find words in a dictionary.

Vowels and Consonants

Fact or fibLevel 1
25. B, C and D are all consonant letters.
Answer: True
None of these three letters are vowels, so they are consonants.
Fill the blankLevel 1
26. The letters A, E, I, O and U are called ____.
- vowelscorrect
- consonants
- syllables
- rhymes
These five letters are the vowels of the alphabet.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
27. How many vowel letters are there in the English alphabet?
- 5correct
- 7
- 3
- 10
The vowels are a, e, i, o and u - that is 5 letters.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
28. Build a correct sentence about vowels.
Answer: A E I O U are vowels
A, E, I, O and U are the five vowel letters.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
29. Which of these letters are consonants? Pick all that apply.
- Bcorrect
- Tcorrect
- A
- O
B and T are consonants, while A and O are vowels.
Odd one outLevel 2
30. Which letter is NOT a vowel?
- Mcorrect
- A
- E
- O
M is a consonant, while A, E and O are vowels.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 14 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Picture question
Put in order
Sort into groups
Spell it
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Letters and Sounds

110 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

More units in Language & Literature

See all 18 units in Language & Literature →