5 Tricky Lowercase Letters

by Marie Rippel

Today we have lots of free printables for you that help kids recognize the typewritten forms of various lowercase letters!

You’ve probably noticed that some lowercase letters look different when they are handwritten than when they are typewritten. For example, take a look at lowercase letters A and G below.

Lowercase letters “q”, “t”, and “y” can be tricky for beginning readers, too. Fortunately, hands-on activities are an easy way to help your child become familiar with the different forms of these letters.

Fun Practice for Tricky Lowercase Letters!

Tricky Lowercase Letter A

A typewritten lowercase A looks very different than a handwritten lowercase A. Help your child learn to recognize three different styles of this tricky letter.

Tricky Lowercase Letter G

A handwritten lowercase G has an open loop or “fishtail,” while many typewritten forms have a closed loop. These activities will help your child recognize both!

Tricky Lowercase Letter Q

Depending on whether it is handwritten or typewritten, lowercase Q can have a descender with a curvy or straight tail…or no tail at all! That’s extra tricky!

Tricky Lowercase Letter T

Lowercase letter T can also be written different ways. Most handwritten forms have a straight stick, while most typewritten forms have a bit of a curl at the bottom.

Tricky Lowercase Letter Y

A typewritten Y is usually straight. A handwritten Y can be either straight or curvy. Can your child recognize all three?

Recognizing the various forms of lowercase A, G, Q, T, and Y is part of letter knowledge, one of the Big Five Skills that help kids prepare for learning to read.

Are you wondering if your child is ready for formal reading instruction? Download this checklist to measure your child’s reading readiness.

Download graphic for Reading Readiness Checklist - click to download

Let me know in the comments below if your child enjoyed these letter recognition activities!

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Naomi B

says:

November 12, 2022 at 4:14 pm

Thank you for these sheets-looking forward to seeing how my son does with them as we are still in the tricky letters stage of things!

Robin

says: Customer Service

November 17, 2022 at 2:07 pm

You’re welcome, Naomi!

Michelle

August 26, 2022 at 2:39 pm

Thank you so much for your free resources. My son had wonderful success with his Pre-Reading program. I am looking forward to continuing his success with these specific lowercase letter fun games. He absolutely loved all the games with Ziggy in Pre-Reading. These letter games will help him with his dyslexia and letter recognition. Thank you for caring and sharing these extra resources.

Robin E.

August 29, 2022 at 7:59 pm

You are so welcome, Michelle! It’s wonderful to hear that the Pre-read program is working so well for your son and that he enjoys it too!

Candice Layfield

August 19, 2022 at 11:31 pm

These free resources are amazing! Thank you!

August 22, 2022 at 12:55 pm

You are very welcome, Candice! Glad you like the resources!

Brianna

August 6, 2022 at 7:43 pm

Thanks for the intro to All About Reading! Brianna

Diana

August 6, 2022 at 3:17 pm

Thank you for these resources. My 4 year is keen to read and the various fonts for these letters always confuse him. It’s great he can see them all in one place together.

August 6, 2022 at 4:21 pm

You’re welcome, Diana! I’m glad these can help your child master these tricky letters!

Jessica

August 6, 2022 at 2:29 pm

Great read! I believe this will help me teach my daughter the difference between! Thanks!

August 6, 2022 at 4:24 pm

Thank you, Jessica! I’m glad this will be helpful!

sonia

August 6, 2022 at 1:18 pm

I discover all about reading from a friend and my little girl just did wonderful and she is ahead of her spelling, writing and reading level. <3

August 6, 2022 at 4:25 pm

I’m so excited to hear that your daughter is doing so very well, Sonia! Thank you for sharing!

Bailey Winters

August 6, 2022 at 12:48 pm

My son is 2.5 and so curious about letters and their sounds. I hadn’t even thought about how fonts could make it even harder to recognize letters.

Carol

August 6, 2022 at 12:00 pm

Wow!! What a straightforward way to unlock something that adult vision take for granted. Thanks for reminding us that that can be tricky for children.

August 6, 2022 at 4:30 pm

Yes, great point, Carol! It’s easy as an adult to forget all the little steps and details it took to learn something.

August 6, 2022 at 11:42 am

Well this was a surprising find! So happy I stumbled upon it!!

Nicole

August 5, 2022 at 2:30 pm

These look amazing and fun!! Can’t wait to try for my son!

August 5, 2022 at 7:47 pm

Thank you, Nicole! I hope it’s a fun learning activity for your son.

Ginny Ivey

August 5, 2022 at 1:41 pm

This is so helpful! I actually just noticed my 6yo pausing when she was reading different books. I never thought to assume that she knew all the various forms of a letter.

August 5, 2022 at 7:48 pm

I’m glad this was helpful, Ginny!

Crystal

August 5, 2022 at 9:15 am

This looks great! Fun and engaging!

Thanks, Crystal!

Ashley D Jaggars

August 4, 2022 at 1:18 pm

Thank you for sharing these hints. I’m excited to start using them with my children.

August 4, 2022 at 4:19 pm

You’re welcome, Ashley!

Amber Robinson

August 4, 2022 at 6:18 am

Thank you for the resources. My son has thrived with AAR

August 4, 2022 at 4:24 pm

I’m happy to hear your son is doing well with All About Reading, Amber!

Toni

August 2, 2022 at 2:04 am

I’ve been reading for so many years that I wouldn’t have even thought of this issue! So thank you for the wonderful reminder that typewritten letters can vary in appearance! My son is just learning to read, and I can see how it would be a very good idea to do these activities with him so he doesn’t get hung up on the different appearances. Thanks!

August 3, 2022 at 12:17 pm

Toni,
I’m glad this could remind you of a difficulty a new reader may have that may not be apparent to those of us that have been reading for so long! You’re welcome.

Olivia

August 2, 2022 at 12:42 am

Thank you for the excellent free resources!

August 3, 2022 at 12:18 pm

You’re welcome, Olivia!

Nicole R

August 1, 2022 at 8:42 pm

Thank you for the awesome resource! This is going to be very helpful.

August 1, 2022 at 8:57 pm

I’m glad this will be helpful for you, Nicole! You’re welcome.

Zhaleh George

July 9, 2022 at 10:21 pm

My son often mistakes these letters for each other. I’m excited to have him practice with these! :)

July 11, 2022 at 2:36 pm

I hope this is very helpful for your son, Zhaleh!

Christal

June 30, 2022 at 10:38 pm

Love these

July 2, 2022 at 7:58 pm

Thank you, Christal.

Neysa

June 30, 2022 at 9:05 am

My daughter had a lot of trouble with b and d.

June 30, 2022 at 3:53 pm

That is a common difficulty for many children, Neysa. We address b and d confusion in our How to Solve Letter Reversals article. However, if you need additional help, please let me know.

Cindy

June 18, 2022 at 5:21 pm

Wonderful activities to help with lowercase letter case recognition! Thank you for these resources!

June 20, 2022 at 12:29 pm

You’re so welcome, Cindy!

Jane K

June 18, 2022 at 4:24 pm

I like how you can teach little ones that there are different ways to write letters. I believe it can help when teaching different forms of foreign language letters too! Every language has its own code or alphabet and it’s fun to learn!

June 20, 2022 at 12:30 pm

Great point, Jane! Thank you.