TH Words, Lists, Materials, and Everything You Need!

If you are in need of some “th” words for your therapy right now, you’ve come to the right place! Just scroll down for my TH word lists!

But if you’re looking for something a little more comprehensive to make therapy planning consistently simple, read on for my favorite therapy materials that will get your kids mastering their “th” sounds in no time!

Fixing “th” errors at the sound level

What kinds of errors are we looking at with a “th” sound?

TH can be produced both voiceless (as in “three”) and voiced (as in “the”).

The most common error we see with the “th” sound is substituting a /d/ for the voiced “th” and/or an /f/ for the voiceless “th,” especially at the end of words. These sounds are acoustically pretty similar (and when we were all wearing masks, it was virtually impossible to tell if someone was making an /f/ or a “th”!) In some British dialects, substituting an /f/ for a “th” is totally normal and not even considered a speech impairment. And, some languages don’t even have a “th” sound, especially not in the final position. When we have a non-native English speaker, it’s important to determine if that person is merely speaking English influenced by their native language. This isn’t an impairment or a disability.

Sometimes “th” sounds are substituted. When they are substituted for a quick sound, like a /t/ or /d/, that’s a phonological process called stopping. Most kids do it when they are learning to talk, but there is a certain point at which that should go away. If you have a student with a lot of phonological processes, you probably want to read into the cycles approach for speech therapy.

High Frequency Words

When working on the “th” sound, I like to use high frequency words for articulation practice. When you pick high frequency words, your students are hearing and practicing their sound all day long, every time they hear their target words. And they’re going to be hearing those target words a lot!

That’s why I created my No Prep Articulation Activities Using High Frequency Words for TH product. You’ll find all the easy, no-prep worksheets and words you need to target words with “th” at the syllable, word, phrase, sentence, and conversation level. It’s a no-nonsense packet that will get your kids in and out the door (and in and out of therapy when they master their skills quickly and efficiently!)

Make it into a game!

There are a ton of different ways you can quickly turn any targeted practice into an engaging articulation game!

My TH Articulation Playing Cards – Outline, Color Printable Deck for Speech Therapy are perfect for any regular card game, but now played with “th” targeted words!

For something even more open-ended, I like to use my Mini Articulation Cards for Speech Therapy for easy targets that I can use in just about any activity, even crafts! If you like more traditional articulation targets with pictures, these are for you!

For my bigger groups, I like to set up Speech Therapy Centers for Articulation. Everybody has a fun task that encourages them to practice their sound and I get some solid focus time with each student one on one to monitor progress and give feedback.

When it’s time to move on to generalization tasks, I’m ready to go! Articulation Menus for Speech Therapy are great for conversation and carryover, with menus created for every speech sound, including “th”. Your students will get tons of practice while playing restaurant. And Articulation News – Carryover Activities Printables for Speech Therapy is a fun way to talk about stories with target sounds. Students love to pretend to be newscasters and tell you about what they read, all while practicing their sound!

Simple TH Words to Get Your Started

But for those days when you just need some quick words and you need them now, I’ve put together a few basic “th” word lists for you!

Voiceless “th” Words

Voiced “th” Words

I hope that’s helpful! Good luck!

{thanks for reading}