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

Our dictionary lists 610 medial /sh/ words suitable for speech therapy practice.

What are some example medial /sh/ words?

Examples include cached, pushed, action, actions, assure, assured, auction, auctions.

Why are station and ocean on the SH list?

Because both carry the SH sound in the middle — the -ti- of station and the -ce- of ocean are pronounced SH. Matching by sound rather than spelling is the only way to find these words.

Why is the medial SH list so much longer than the others?

English forms a large family of nouns with -tion, -sion, -cial and -tial endings, and every one of them carries a medial SH. Word-final SH, by contrast, appears in only a few dozen common words.

Medial SH Words for Speech Therapy

Words carrying the SH sound inside the word — station, ocean, machine, special. Most of them are not spelled with sh at all, which makes this the clearest illustration of why these lists match sound rather than spelling.

Word list

1-syllable

cached
pushed

2-syllable

action
actions
assure
assured
auction
auctions
bishop
brochure
brochures
cashiers
caution
conscious
crucial
dishes
ensure
ensures
facial
fashion
fiction
finished
fisher
fishing
flashers
flashing
fraction
friendship
function
functions
furnished
insured
issue
issued
issues
junction
machine
machines
marshall
martial
mention
mentioned
mission
missions
motion
nation
nations
notion
offshore
option
options
partial
passion
patient
patients
pension
pensions
polished
portion
portions
precious
pressure
published
pushing
racial
russia
scotia
screenshot
screenshots
section
sections
session
sessions
snapshot
social
spatial
special
specials
species
station
stations
sunshine
tension
threshold
township
washer
washing
wishes
wishing
workshop
workshops
worship

3-syllable

abortion
absorption
accomplished
addiction
addition
additions
admission
admissions
adoption
assumption
assumptions
assurance
attention
attraction
attractions
citation
citations
collection
collections
commercial
commission
commissions
completion
compression
condition
conditions
conjunction
connection
connections
consciousness
construction
consumption
convention
conventions
conviction
correction
corrections
corruption
creation
creations
delicious
depression
description
descriptions
destruction
detection
dimension
dimensions
direction
directions
discretion
discussion
discussions
distinction
distinguished
donation
donations
duration
edition
editions
efficient
egyptian
election
elections
emission
emissions
emotions
encryption
ensuring
especially
essential
essentials
established
exception
exceptions
exemption
expansion
expression
expressions
extension
extensions
extraction
fellowship
financial
finishing
fisheries
formation
foundation
foundations
functional
functioning
furnishings
impression
induction
infection
infections
infectious
inflation
initial
injection
insertion
inspection
inspections
instruction
instructions
insurance
internship
invention
judicial
leadership
location
locations
membership
michigan
migration
musician
musicians
national
nationwide
nutrition
official
officials
omissions
optional
ownership
partially
partition
partnership
partnerships
perception
permission
permissions
petition
photoshop
physician
physicians
pollution
position
positions
possession
potential
prediction
predictions
prescription
prevention
production
productions
profession
projection
promotion
promotions
proportion
protection
provincial
publisher
publishers
publishing
punishment
quotations
ratio
rational
ratios
reaction
reactions
reception
reduction
reductions
reflection
reflections
refurbished
regression
relation
relations
restriction
restrictions
retention
rotation
salvation
scholarship
scholarships
selection
selections
solution
solutions
specialist
specialists
specialized
specially
specialties
specialty
sponsorship
submission
submissions
subscription
subscriptions
subsection
substantial
sufficient
suspension
taxation
technician
tradition
traditions
transaction
transactions
transcription
transition
translation

Words without competing sounds

cached
pushed
action
actions
assure
assured
auction
auctions
bishop
brochure
brochures
cashiers
caution
crucial
dishes
ensure
ensures
facial
fashion
fiction
finished
fisher
fishing
flashers
flashing
fraction
friendship
function
functions
furnished
insured
issue
issued
issues
junction
machine
machines
marshall
martial
mention
mentioned
mission
missions
motion
nation
nations
notion
offshore
option
options
partial
passion
patient
pension
pensions
polished
portion
portions
pressure
published
pushing
racial
russia
tension
threshold
township
washer
washing
wishes
wishing
workshop
worship
abortion
absorption
accomplished
addiction
addition
additions
admission
admissions
adoption
attention
attraction
attractions
collection
collections
commercial
commission
commissions
completion
compression
condition
conditions
conjunction
connection
connections
convention
conventions
conviction
correction
corrections
corruption
creation
creations
depression
detection
dimension
dimensions
direction
directions
donation
donations
duration
edition
editions
efficient
egyptian
election
elections
emission
emissions
emotions
encryption
ensuring
exemption
fellowship
financial
finishing
fisheries
formation
foundation
foundations
functional
functioning
furnishings
impression
induction
infection
infections
inflation
initial
injection
internship
invention
judicial
leadership
location
locations
membership
michigan
migration
musician
musicians
national
nationwide
nutrition
official
officials
omissions
optional
ownership
partially
partition
partnership
permission
permissions
petition
photoshop
physician
physicians
pollution
position
positions
possession
potential
prediction
predictions
prevention
production
productions
profession
projection
promotion
promotions
proportion
protection
provincial
publisher
publishers
publishing
punishment
quotations
ratio
rational
ratios
reaction
reactions
reduction
reductions
reflection
reflections
refurbished
regression
relation
relations
retention
rotation
technician
tradition
traditions
transaction
transactions
transition
translation

Related lists

Other SH positions

Initial SH words84 words Final SH words34 words

Other sounds in the medial position

Medial R words Medial S words Medial Z words Medial L words Medial TH words Medial CH words Medial J words Medial K words Medial G words Medial F words Medial V words

All SH word lists

Worksheet preview

Articulation practice

Target /sh/ · Medial

/sh/

01cached

02pushed

03action

04actions

05assure

06assured

07auction

08auctions

verified/sh/: 610 words · competing-free 434

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About Medial SH words

The SH sound in medial position is carried overwhelmingly by endings — the -tion of station and nation, the -cial of special, the -ssion of mission. That is why this list is many times larger than the initial and final SH lists put together.

Those endings tend to sit in longer, later-acquired vocabulary, so medial SH words often carry a heavier linguistic load than the target sound itself. A three-syllable word can fail on syllable structure rather than on SH, which is worth ruling out before concluding the sound is unstable.

Practising Medial SH

The one- and two-syllable entries near the top of the list keep the vocabulary demand low while still giving a medial SH. Longer -tion words are useful later, particularly for older students who meet them in reading.

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 /sh/ in the medial position?: Our dictionary lists 610 medial /sh/ words suitable for speech therapy practice.
What are some example medial /sh/ words?: Examples include cached, pushed, action, actions, assure, assured, auction, auctions.
Why are station and ocean on the SH list?: Because both carry the SH sound in the middle — the -ti- of station and the -ce- of ocean are pronounced SH. Matching by sound rather than spelling is the only way to find these words.
Why is the medial SH list so much longer than the others?: English forms a large family of nouns with -tion, -sion, -cial and -tial endings, and every one of them carries a medial SH. Word-final SH, by contrast, appears in only a few dozen common words.

When do kids master each sound?

Free interactive checker: pick a sound and an age, see the research norm — all 24 consonants, sourced from Crowe & McLeod (2020).

Open the checker →