• Breve- a coding mark used to indicate a vowel's short sound
• Cedilla- a coding mark on the letter c to indicate a soft sound
• Code: to mark a word with symbols to provide information about how to pronounce it
• Combination- two letters that come together to make an unexpected sound (ar, er, ir, or, ur, qu, wh); coded with an arc
• Digraph- two letters that come together to make one new sound (consonant digraphs: ch, ck, ng, ph, sh, th; vowel digraphs: ai, au, aw, ay, ea, ee, ei, ew, ey, ie, oa, oo, ow, ue); underline to code
• Diphthong- two vowel sounds that come together so quickly that they are considered one syllable (oi, ou, ow, oy); code with an arc
• Final, stable syllable: a nonphonetic syllable that occurs in the final position frequently enough to be considered stable (ble, cle, dle, fle, gle, kle, ple, sle, tle, zle, tion); code with a bracket
• Ghost Letter Digraphs:  two letters that make one sound; first sound is silent (gn, kn, wr); silent letters are coded with a diagonal slash
• High-frequency words: those words that occur most often in written text
• K-back: a coding mark consisting of a vertical line on the back of a c that makes the /k/ sound
• Macron: a coding mark used to indicate a vowel's long sound; line drawn above a vowel saying its long name
• Prefix: a letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a root word that changes the meaning or usage of the word (dis, pre, un)
• Root word: a word with no prefix or suffix added
• Schwa: a coding mark resembling an upside-down e placed over a vowel to indicate the short u sound
• Sight word: a word of which all or part does not follow phonetic rules
• Sneaky e: the e in the vowel rule v-e; it makes the vowel have a long sound (a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e); coded by drawing a diagonal slash through the silent e and a macron drawn above the long vowel
• Suffix: a letter or group of letters added to the end of a root word that changes the meaning or usage of the word (vowel suffix: ed, er, es, est, ing, y; consonant suffix: ful, less, ly, ness, s); suffixes are coded by boxing in the affix added to the root word
• Syllable: a word or part of a word that contains only one vowel sound and is made by one impulse of the voice; syllables are split with a vertical line
• Trigraph: three letters that come together to make one sound (dge, igh, tch); underline trigraphs to code
• Twin consonsants: two identical consonants making only one sound; coded with a diagonal slash for silent letters
• Voice line: a coding mark consisting of a horizontal line through the middle of a letter or letters, representing a voiced sound (s, th)
• "Wild Colt" Words: words that only have one vowel and break the rule by sounding like a long vowel

Syllable Division

V means vowel                    C means consonant