Read the sounds.
Not the pictures.
Sound It Out gives early readers short passages they can actually sound out. When a word feels “sticky”—hard to read or sound out—it walks through each letter-sound from left to right without turning the answer into a guess.
Designed for ages 4–9. A grown-up chooses a broad age band; practice starts with first sounds and moves through six guided phonics levels as the reader shows read-without-help evidence.
Free includes 2 readers and 5 fresh passages per reader each day. No card required. The example does not save child data.
60-second example
See exactly what a child does
1. Read the short sentence
If one word feels hard, tap only that word. Try the highlighted word below.
.
For grown-ups · how it works
Fresh practice, checked before a child sees it.
Sound It Out chooses words for the reader's current level, checks every drafted word, and replaces anything that does not belong.
Choose the sound set
The draft can use only the letter-sounds and familiar words taught so far.
Check every word
The app checks the draft word by word. An out-of-level word blocks the whole draft.
Help without guessing
A word that feels hard—sometimes called a “sticky word”—opens left-to-right sound help, never a picture or sentence-context clue.
What are sound games?
They are optional, short listen-and-answer activities for blending, rhyming, and counting sounds. They sit outside reading time so the main task stays simple.
See a rejected draftA grown-up view of the same word-by-word check used before a passage reaches a child.Open safety example
Decodability X-ray
The exact policy decision, token by token
Green words use the cumulative sound code, outlined words are explicitly taught heart words, and coral words block the entire draft.
1 · Cumulative code
Only Level 1 words are allowed
- s /s/
- a /a/
- t /t/
- p /p/
- i /i/
- n /n/
Heart words: a, i, the, to, was
2 · Draft rejected
The cat ran to the moon.
- the
- cat
- ran
- to
- the
- moon
- Outside this level: cat, ran, moon.
3 · Checked result
Pat sat in a pit. I tap a tin. Pat sits.
- pat
- sat
- in
- a
- pit
- i
- tap
- a
- tin
- pat
- sits
The rejected draft is never shown to the learner. A checked fallback keeps practice moving.