Orthographic Reading Test

Word complexity chart

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This test contains 1-syllable words that differ in complexity in the following ways:

. in their letter length; words range in length from 3 to 6 letters.

. in how the letters map into sounds (1-7), that is, whether every sound maps into a separate sound or whether two or more letters map into one sound.

. in the frequency of the word (1, 2 or 3); whether the word occurs very frequently in the written prose of children, is of moderate frequency or infrequent.

The items on the Orthographic Reading Test

How the letters map into sounds	frequency	3 letter	4 letter	5 letter	6 letter
1 1:1 mapping	high 1	men	send	stamp	strict
-	middle 2	pen	bend	clamp	splint
-	low 3	den	fend	cramp	prompt
2 (vc) regular	high 1	new	part	drawn	twirls
-	middle 2	dew	cart	crawl	skirts
-	low 3	pew	dart	spawn	squirm
3 (vc) irregular	high 1	low	sort	burst	ground
-	middle 2	cow	horn	burnt	counts
-	low 3	tow	ford	spurt	sprout
4 (vv) regular	high 1	aid	soil	train	street
-	middle 2	aim	boil	claim	screen
-	low 3	ail	toil	braid	spleen
5 (vv) irregular	high 1	eat	road	spoon	spread
-	middle 2	ear	goal	gloom	stream
-	low 3	tea	foal	swoop	scream
6 (vcv) regular	high 1	ate	tune	place	strike
-	middle 2	ape	cube	plate	strive
-	low 3	ale	dune	grape	stripe
7 (cc) regular	high 1	she	miss	still	string
-	middle 2	shy	kiss	grill	strung
-	low 3	ash	hiss	drill	throng


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