What are the most useful words here?

The everyday ones: new, few, blue, true, fruit, juice. They appear constantly in second grade writing, and misspelling them is what this practice prevents.

How does this build toward bigger words?

Teams learned in small words reappear in big ones: rescue, argue, cruise. A child who owns the team reads the big word in chunks instead of letter by letter.

2nd grade long u teams (ew, ue, ui)

2nd grade long u teams (ew, ue, ui) worksheets

Second graders sort the three teams confidently, including longer words (rescue, bruise, threw), and use the end-of-word rule, ew or ue but never ui, when spelling.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core RF.2.3.b.

Each print is a different sheet with its own answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of words you'll complete and sort

Fill in the missing letters to make a real word, then write the whole word in its column.

drglcl (a hint that helps solve a mystery)brsestcasecrrecrtfl (a bird did this)resc

Columns: ew and ue and ui. The clue (a bird did this) picks ew for "fl_", so flew goes under ew; the clue (a hint that helps solve a mystery) picks ue for "cl_", so clue goes under ue; Only ui turns "br_se" into a real word, so bruise goes under ui.

Every print pulls a new set of words at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different mix.

What's on a 2nd grade sheet

2nd grade sheets draw from 33 words, 21 to a page. All 29 of 1st grade's words are here too, plus 4 more. 1st grade sheets print 15 to a page.

Some of the words:

dewcrewgrewbluedueargueavenuebarbecuejuicyrecruit

Complete and sort. Fill in the missing letters to make a real word, then write the whole word in its column. 21 words per page.

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Dictate a word and ask your child to predict the spelling team before writing: end of word? Then not ui. Prediction turns a sort into a spelling strategy they will use in real writing.

Watch for: Ui is the rare one, and it never ends a word: fruit, juice, suit. If a child hears long u at the END of a word, the choice is between ew and ue. Some ew and ue words say more of an 'oo' than a 'you' sound (grew vs. few). Both count as the long u team; the spelling pattern is the same.

Common questions about 2nd grade long u teams (ew, ue, ui)

What are the most useful words here?: The everyday ones: new, few, blue, true, fruit, juice. They appear constantly in second grade writing, and misspelling them is what this practice prevents.
How does this build toward bigger words?: Teams learned in small words reappear in big ones: rescue, argue, cruise. A child who owns the team reads the big word in chunks instead of letter by letter.

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Aligned to Common Core RF.2.3.b. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated August 2026.

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