A short list, and why it still gets ten minutes
There aren’t many ure words. Sure, pure, cure and lure cover nearly everything a five-year-old will meet, and a handful of longer ones turn up later. That makes this the rarest sound in Phase 3. It also makes it quick to teach, so ten minutes now and a reminder whenever sure shows up in a story is plenty.
One honest note first. ure is a Letters and Sounds Phase 3 trigraph, which means three letters making one sound. It is not one of the 42 Jolly Phonics sounds, so there is no official Jolly Phonics action for it. If your child learns with Jolly Phonics, treat ure as an extra for after the main sounds are settled. Our complete Jolly Phonics guide lists the real 42.
How it sounds and how to show it
Start with a long oo and let it slide towards a soft er, so pure comes out something like “pyoor”. Accents differ. Plenty of people say sure almost like shore, and that’s fine. Say it the way you normally would and let your child watch your mouth.
With no official action, here’s a simple one that is just my own classroom idea, not part of any programme. Nod firmly and say, “Sure!” Children enjoy it because sure is a word they already say all day.
The moving picture shows the order for writing the three letters. Have your child trace it in the air first, then on paper.
The words, in the order I’d teach them
ure nearly always comes at the end of a word or syllable, so there is no beginning-of-word or middle-of-word list to learn. Begin with the four short words: sure, pure, cure and lure. Each one is a single syllable, so your child says the first sound and then slides into the ure: s-ure, p-ure. Write them on four cards and read them together until she stops adding a gap in the middle.
The longer words can wait: unsure, secure, manure, mature, insure, assure, endure and obscure. Don’t expect them from a beginner. Cover the front with your finger, read the ure end, then uncover it: un-sure, se-cure. Unsure and secure are the ones most likely to show up in a story. The others are for chapter books.
Words that look right but aren’t
This is where children, and plenty of adults, get caught. Picture, nature, future, mixture, adventure and capture all end in ure, but they say “cher”. Treasure, measure and pleasure say “zher”. None of those are the sound on this page. Some older worksheets list them as ure words, and they shouldn’t.
If your child reads picture as “pic-yoor”, don’t make a fuss. Say, “Good try, in this one the ending says cher,” and move on. Keep the look-alikes for later, once sure and pure are steady. Another common slip is writing sure as “shore”, because that’s how it sounds in many accents. Show her the card and say, “This one is spelled with ure.”
Three short activities
- Pure water. Pour a glass of water, put the pure card beside it, and have your child say “pure water” before each sip. The worksheet below has the same glass of water on it.
- Four-card dictation. Say sure, pure, cure and lure one at a time without showing them. She writes each word, and you only check the ure ending at first. Sort out the first letter afterwards.
- Two piles. For a child who’s solid on the four basics, write pure, cure, lure, picture, nature and treasure on slips. Read each one aloud and sort them into “oo-er” and “not oo-er”. Expect some arguments, and enjoy them.
Download the worksheet
The PDF is a single tracing page: the letters ure in outline, three rows to trace, and the glass of water labelled Pure. There is no word list on it, so use the cards above for reading.
The eight-page Phase 3 flashcard PDF has a card for ure, along with the other Phase 3 sounds. You’ll find more about it on our Phase 3 flashcards page.
If this sound feels too fiddly today, the er sound and the igh sound are good places to put the time.
Questions parents ask
Is ure one of the 42 Jolly Phonics sounds?
No. It is a Letters and Sounds Phase 3 trigraph, so Jolly Phonics has no official action or song for it.
Why isn’t picture an ure word?
Picture ends in ure, but it says “cher”, not the ure of pure. Treasure, measure and pleasure say “zher”, so they’re look-alikes too.
How many ure words does my child need?
Four will do for a start: sure, pure, cure and lure. The longer ones come naturally as she reads more.
Why does sure sound like shore?
In many accents the ure in sure is said like shore. It starts with an s but says sh, so it’s a word to learn by sight.
