Best S and Z Words, Lists, Materials and Ideas! (2024)

First of all, if you’re in a rush and need some quick /s/ and /z/ words right now, scroll down to my free /s/ and /z/ words lists!

But, if you have a little more time, you might want to look through some of my favorite products to work on words with the /s/ and /z/ sounds. Your future self will thank you when you have a solid plan for your entire year of articulation therapy!

S and Z Sound Errors

/S/ can be a tricky sound! There are a few errors we see again and again. The first is the frontal lisp. This is when a child’s tongue is moving outward when they try to make the /s/ sound. It sounds more like a “th.” Of course, kids missing their front teeth might struggle with this sound, but it can be just temporary until they get those teeth back. One thing to keep in mind is that if kids are producing a frontal /s/ sound, they most likely swallow with a thrust pattern. It might be a good idea to check in with a dentist to talk about tongue thrust. People who thrust their tongue out while swallowing might need orthodontics because that pressure pushes the teeth outward. But, if you don’t fix the tongue thrusting, those teeth will just get pushed out again once the braces come off!

The other /s/ distortion we hear is the lateral lisp. The tongue stays back, but air is coming out the sides. Some people call this a “slushy” sound. This can be a tricky sound to fix because it is a subtle difference in tongue position to change the airflow.

Some children will just omit the /s/ or substitute another sound. Some substitutions might be evidence of a phonological process.

A lot of times we will see the same error reflected on the /z/ sound. Because /z/ is made in a similar way, just with voicing, there is an overlap. You might get one if you work on the other, or you might need to explicitly teach the /z/ as well.

Phonology or Articulation?

One of the first things you need to ask yourself is whether or not this is an articulation impairment or a phonological disorder? Is your student struggling with stopping (substituting “stop” sounds like /t/ or /d/) for /s/ or /z/? That’s a phonological process. Many children develop speech sounds that way, but at a certain point, they should move past it on their own. If they don’t, you probably want to consider using the cycles approach for speech therapy if there are more than a couple phonological processes in your child’s speech.

My Cycles for Phonology Toolkit gives you everything you need to informally assess, plan, and treat phonological disorders. The physical product is gorgeous when you’re done, but if you don’t have that kind of time, there is a digital version as well!

High Frequency Words

I strongly believe in using high frequency words for articulation practice. There is nothing worse than targeting an obscure word in therapy, just because it happens to contain the right sound. How is that relevant to our students?

But, when you pick high frequency words, now your students are hearing and practicing their sound all day long!

That’s why I created my No Prep Articulation Activities Using High Frequency Words for S and S Blends and No Prep Articulation Activities Using High Frequency Words for Z products. You’ll find all the easy, no-prep worksheets and words you need to target words with /s/ and /z/ at the word, phrase, sentence, and conversation level.

Make it into a game!

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

I love using my S Articulation Playing Cards – Outline + Color Printable Deck for Speech Therapy and Z Articulation Playing Cards: Outline + Color Deck for Speech Therapy for some targeted practice that works with any game you can play with regular cards! It’s nice to not need to switch back and forth between stimulus materials and game materials!

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!

The key is to come up with a simple way to make the practice just a little more enticing for the kids!

One other way I like to do this is by setting up articulation centers for my groups to rotate through. That way I get to spend a little one-on-one focus time with each of my students and they get lots of lots of repetitions! My Speech Therapy Centers for Articulation give you everything you need to set up fun stations in your therapy room. These are super versatile, so you can use them with your kids working on /s/ and /z/ words or any articulation sound!

Add in Some Literacy Work While You’re At It

Studies show that children who struggle with articulation and phonology are at a higher risk of having reading difficulties. That’s why I like to work on phonological awareness skills with my articulation students. My Daily Phonological Awareness Questions and Reference Lists for Speech Therapy include lots of general phonological awareness activities, and include sheets that target both literacy skills AND speech targets for maximum efficiency!

Articulation Carryover and Generalization

And once you’ve gotten in lots of awesome drill, don’t forget the activities that encourage carryover and generalization, like my articulation news and articulation menus products.

That’s Great, But I Have a Client Right Now and I Need Some /S/ Words!

All right, enough background information, let’s get to the words!

Initial S Words List

Medial S Words List

Final S Words List

And don’t forget the Z words!

Initial Z Words List

Medial Z Words List

Final Z Words List

{thanks for reading!}