Medial L Words for Speech Therapy

Word list

Words without competing sounds

• alt
• bald
• belt
• belts
• bills
• black
• blacks
• blade
• blades
• blah
• blame
• blank
• blast
• blend
• bless
• blessed
• blind
• blink
• block
• blocked
• blocks
• blog
• blogs
• blond
• blonde
• blood
• bloom
• blow
• blue
• blues
• bold
• bolt
• build
• builds
• built
• bulk
• called
• calls
• cells
• child
• claim
• claimed
• claims
• clan
• class
• clause
• clay
• clean
• clerk
• click
• clicks
• cliff
• climb
• clip
• clips
• clock
• clocks
• clone
• close
• closed
• cloth
• clothes
• cloud
• clouds
• club
• clubs
• cold
• cult
• deals
• dealt
• dolls
• else
• failed
• fails
• falls
• false
• fault
• feels
• felt
• field
• fields
• filed
• files
• filled
• film
• films
• flag
• flags
• flame
• flash
• flat
• fleece
• fleet
• flesh
• flex
• flight
• flights
• flip
• float
• flood
• flow
• flows
• flu
• flush
• flux
• fly
• fold
• girls
• glad
• glance
• glass
• glen
• globe
• gloves
• glow
• goals
• gold
• golf
• guild
• gulf
• health
• held
• help
• helped
• helps
• hills
• hold
• holds
• holes
• mailed
• mails
• males
• meals
• mild
• miles
• milk
• mills
• mold
• nails
• oils
• old
• pills
• place
• placed
• plain
• plains
• plan
• plane
• planes
• planned
• plans
• plant
• plants
• plate
• plates
• play
• played
• plays
• please
• pleased
• pledge
• plot
• plots
• plug
• plus
• polls
• pools
• pulled
• pulse
• sales
• salt
• scales
• schools
• sealed
• self
• sells
• shelf
• shield
• silk
• skilled
• skills
• sleep
• sleeps
• sleeve
• slide
• slides
• slight
• slim
• slip
• slope
• slot
• slots
• slow
• sold
• solve
• solved
• souls
• split
• styles
• tales
• tells
• tiles
• told
• tools
• valve
• valves
• vault
• volt
• adult
• adults
• ala
• alan
• albert
• album
• albums
• alert
• alerts
• align
• alike
• alive
• alleged
• allied
• allow
• allowed
• allows
• alloy
• almost
• alone
• along
• alpha
• alpine
• also
• alter
• altered
• although
• alto
• angels
• appeals
• applied
• applies
• apply
• assault
• athletes
• atlas
• badly
• bailey
• balance
• balanced
• ballet
• balloon
• ballot
• baseline
• belief
• beliefs
• believe
• believed
• believes
• belly
• belong
• belongs
• below
• berlin
• billing
• billy
• blackjack
• blanket

Worksheet preview

About Medial L words

Medial L is not one target but two. When the L opens a syllable, as in yellow or balloon, it behaves like the light initial L; when it closes one before another consonant, as in milk, it takes on the darker quality of a final L.

That split explains a pattern clinicians see often: a child holds the L in balloon and loses it in elbow. Sorting the list by where the L sits in the syllable is more informative than working straight down it.

Practising Medial L

Start with entries where L begins the second syllable — the child essentially produces an initial L with a running start. Words where L closes a syllable are closer to a dark L and belong later.

Acquisition ages: Crowe & McLeod (2020), American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Educational content — an SLP chooses the target for a specific child.

Frequently asked questions

How many words have /l/ in the medial position?

Our dictionary lists 1565 medial /l/ words suitable for speech therapy practice.

What are some example medial /l/ words?

Examples include alt, bald, belt, belts, bills, black, blacks, blade.

Why does my student say yellow correctly but not milk?

Because the two Ls are not the same. In yellow the L opens a syllable and stays light; in milk it closes one and darkens toward the final L, which is a later-developing form.

Should medial L come before or after final L?

Most programs work medial before final, since syllable-initial medial L is closer to the L a child already has. Probing both is worthwhile — the order is a clinical judgment, not a rule.