Medial V Words for Speech Therapy
Words carrying /v/ inside the word — seven, river, over, movie. This is the largest V list, since /v/ appears mid-word far more often than at either edge.
Also called word-medial V, V in the medial position, or V in the middle of words.
- 300
- words
- 272
- competing-free
- 2–6
- syllables
Starter set: 72 Medial V words
One- and two-syllable words with no competing sounds, spread across the alphabet — enough to pick 10–20 targets for a session. The full list of 300 words is further down the page.
- avoid
- chevy
- civic
- civil
- cover
- device
- devil
- devon
- diverse
- divide
- divine
- diving
- divorce
- dover
- driven
- driver
- driving
- even
- event
- ever
- evil
- given
- giving
- harvest
- having
- heaven
- heavy
- java
- leaving
- level
- levy
- liver
- living
- lover
- loving
- marvel
- movers
- movie
- moving
- naval
- navy
- nervous
- never
- nova
- novel
- oval
- oven
- over
- preview
- private
- proven
- provide
- reveal
- revenge
- reverse
- review
- revised
- river
- rover
- savage
- saver
- saving
- server
- service
- serving
- seven
- seventh
- severe
- stevens
- survey
- survive
- travel
- 01avoid
- 02chevy
- 03civic
- 04civil
- 05cover
- 06device
- 07devil
- 08devon
/v/: 300 words · competing-free 272Generate a Medial V practice pack
Pick an age band and a theme; the list you just read becomes picture cards with phrases and sentences, a no-prep game, a data sheet and a home letter, every word verified before the PDF is built.
- Picture cards: word, phrase, sentence
- Say & dab game
- Data sheet + probe
- Home practice letter (B&W)
04 · Full listShow all 300 Medial V words
Grouped by syllable count, competing-free words marked
272 of 300 words contain the target without the sounds children commonly substitute for it
2-syllable · 101
- avoid
- beaver
- chevy
- civic
- civil
- cover
- covered
- covers
- device
- devil
- devon
- diverse
- divide
- divine
- diving
- divorce
- dover
- driven
- driver
- drivers
- driving
- even
- event
- events
- ever
- evil
- favor
- favors
- favour
- fever
- flavor
- given
- giving
- harvest
- haven
- having
- heaven
- heavy
- java
- leaving
- level
- levels
- levy
- liver
- living
- lover
- lovers
- loving
- marvel
- movers
- movie
- movies
- moving
- naval
- navy
- nervous
- never
- nova
- novel
- novels
- oval
- oven
- over
- prevent
- preview
- previews
- private
- proven
- provide
- provides
- province
- reveal
- revealed
- reveals
- revenge
- reverse
- review
- reviewed
- reviews
- revised
- river
- rivers
- rover
- savage
- saver
- saving
- savings
- server
- servers
- service
- serving
- seven
- seventh
- severe
- stevens
- survey
- surveys
- survive
- travel
- travels
- waiver
3-syllable · 122
- achieving
- activists
- approval
- arrival
- arrivals
- avatar
- avenue
- average
- avoiding
- behavior
- behaviour
- beverage
- boulevard
- carnival
- civilian
- coverage
- covering
- deliver
- delivered
- delivers
- develop
- developed
- develops
- deviant
- devices
- devoted
- discover
- discovered
- divided
- dividend
- division
- divisions
- eleven
- every
- evidence
- evident
- favorite
- favorites
- favourite
- festival
- festivals
- forever
- geneva
- governance
- governing
- government
- governments
- governor
- gravity
- hardcover
- heavily
- however
- improving
- interval
- intervals
- interview
- interviews
- ivory
- juvenile
- medieval
- moreover
- navigate
- nirvana
- novelty
- november
- observer
- overall
- overcome
- overhead
- overnight
- overseas
- overview
- pavilion
- poverty
- preventing
- prevention
- previous
- privacy
- provided
- providence
- provider
- providers
- providing
- provinces
- provincial
- provision
- provisions
- receiver
- receivers
- receiving
- recover
- recovered
- relevance
- relevant
- removal
- removing
- retrieval
- revenue
- revenues
- reviewer
- reviewing
- revision
- revisions
- riverside
- savannah
- services
- soviet
- surveillance
- survival
- survivor
- survivors
- thanksgiving
- traveler
- travelers
- traveling
- traveller
- travelling
- trivia
- universe
- whatever
- whenever
- wherever
4-syllable · 55
- activated
- activation
- activities
- activity
- antivirus
- available
- aviation
- behavioral
- bolivia
- conservation
- conservative
- controversial
- controversy
- delivering
- delivery
- developer
- developers
- developing
- development
- developments
- deviation
- discovery
- diversity
- elevation
- equivalent
- evaluate
- evanescence
- evolution
- governmental
- innovation
- innovations
- innovative
- intervention
- interventions
- motivated
- motivation
- navigation
- navigator
- nevertheless
- observation
- observations
- preservation
- previously
- removable
- reservation
- reservations
- revelation
- revolution
- subdivision
- supervision
- supervisor
- supervisors
- television
- televisions
- universal
5-syllable · 17
- anniversary
- civilization
- connectivity
- creativity
- developmental
- evaluated
- evaluating
- evaluation
- evaluations
- eventually
- individual
- individuals
- productivity
- sensitivity
- unavailable
- universities
- university
6-syllable · 5
- availability
- biodiversity
- cardiovascular
- individually
- revolutionary
About Medial V words
Between two vowels the voicing is already running on both sides, which makes medial position the most forgiving place to establish /v/. A child who devoices /v/ at the start or end of a word will often hold it cleanly in seven or river.
That makes intervocalic V a practical starting point rather than a later step. Establishing the voiced fricative where the surroundings support it, then moving outward to word edges, is a common sequence for this sound.
Practising Medial V
Two-syllable words where V opens the second syllable, such as seven and river, keep the voicing continuous through the target. Contrasting one against its /f/ counterpart keeps the voicing dimension in focus.
Acquisition ages: Crowe & McLeod (2020), American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Educational content — an SLP chooses the target for a specific child.
Therapy guides
Minimal pairs therapy
Minimal pairs examples by pattern, how a session runs, and a worked fronting example.
Read the guidePrint-and-go articulation activities
No-prep drill ideas that turn a word list into a full session.
Read the guideNo-prep teletherapy articulation
Screen-share friendly activities that use the same word lists online.
Read the guideFrequently asked questions
- How many words have /v/ in the medial position?
- Our dictionary lists 300 medial /v/ words suitable for speech therapy practice.
- What are some example medial /v/ words?
- Examples include avoid, chevy, civic, civil, cover, device, devil, devon.
- Why is medial V easier than initial V?
- Because the vowels on either side are already voiced, so the vocal folds do not have to start or stop for the /v/. Word edges require switching voicing on or off, which is the harder task.
- Should medial V come first in therapy?
- Often it does, precisely because the surroundings support voicing. It is a common sequence rather than a rule — probing all three positions shows where the sound is most reachable for a given child.