Explore our ll phonics resources for Reception, with worksheets, games and activities for teaching the ‘ll’ digraph. Help pupils understand that the two letters work together to represent one /l/ sound, then practise spotting ‘ll’ and using it when reading and spelling simple words.
Use these resources when ‘ll’ is introduced in Phase 2 phonics, to practise words ending in ‘ll’ or to give pupils another chance to revisit the digraph. Browse our full collection of Phase 2 phonics resources, or visit our main phonics resources page for resources covering Phases 1 to 5.
Pupils meet ‘ll’ after they have already learned that the single letter ‘l’ can represent the /l/ sound. They now learn another way of writing the same sound: the two letters ‘ll’ working together as a digraph. In Phase 2, pupils will see this spelling at the end of short words such as ill, doll and bell.
Make it clear that pupils do not need to say /l/ twice when they see ‘ll’. Although there are two letters, together they represent one /l/ sound. Spotting the whole digraph before blending can make words containing ‘ll’ much easier to read.
Our ll phonics resources give pupils different ways to practise recognising and using the digraph. Activities can support pupils with:
The resources can slot into your usual phonics teaching, whether you need something for the whole class, a small group or a pupil who needs more practice. Choose the activities that suit your teaching sequence and use them alongside your school’s systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Words such as ill, doll, bell and fill allow pupils to put ‘ll’ into practice alongside sounds they already know. When reading, encourage pupils to spot ‘ll’ as a digraph first and then blend the sounds across the word.
These words are useful for spelling practice too. Pupils can say a word aloud, break it into its sounds and think about which letters are needed to write each one. This is a good opportunity to reinforce that the final /l/ sound in these words is written using ‘ll’.
The ‘ll’ spelling is a digraph, which means that two letters represent one sound. Pupils do not need to learn a new phoneme when they meet ‘ll’; instead, they are learning a new way that the familiar /l/ sound can be written. Recognising digraphs as a single unit is an important skill that pupils will use throughout phonics.
Find activities for all the sounds and digraphs taught in this phase in our Phase 2 phonics resources collection. For teaching resources covering the wider phonics sequence, head to our main phonics resources page.
Yes. ‘ll’ is a digraph because the two letters work together to represent one /l/ sound. Pupils should recognise ‘ll’ as a single spelling rather than sounding out each ‘l’ separately.
The ‘ll’ digraph is introduced during Phase 2, after pupils have learned the single-letter grapheme ‘l’. This means the /l/ sound is already familiar when pupils meet its ‘ll’ spelling.
Useful examples include ill, fill, doll and bell. Choose words containing only sounds pupils have already been taught so they can use their phonics knowledge to read them independently.
