Sight words with  a,    i,  o,     o-e / ow / ou / u / oo;    ea / ei / ie;    ui, 
                         ch, ge/gi, –se, -ure and v,
                               missing or misleading doubled consonants after short vowels,
                               redundant letters,  102 words with more than one pronunciation
                         and a few dozen assorted oddities.

Some of the above spellings, a for example, have so many exceptional pronunciations that all the words with them really have to be learnt as sight words (rather than by decoding). Such words are therefore listed together with common words in which they have a regular pronunciation.
           * Words marked with an asterisk have more than one problem or variable pronunciation.

Young children's progress in reading is most impeded by 190 very common words which contain letters that are not pronounced in their usual way (to be found in the link).

A, able, advance, after, aghast, ah, almond, almost, also, altar, alter, alternative, always,

amble, ample, an, and, angle, answer, ant, antler, any, apple, April, apron, armada, ask, at,

await awake, award, aware, away, awe, awful, awkward, awning, axle, baffle, bag, bald,

ban, banana, band, bang, bash, bask, bastard, bat, bath, battle, black, blank, blast, bra,

brag, bramble, branch, brand, cable, cackle, calf, calm, camp, can, canal, candle, cap, cash,

cask, cast, caste, castle, cat catch, cattle, chalk, chance, chant, chasten, chastity, chat,

clam, clamp, clan, clang, clank, clap, clash, clasp, crab, crackle, craft, cramp, crank, crash, dab,

dabble, daft, dahlia, dam, damp, dance, dangle, dank, dappled, dazzle, disaster, drab, draft,

drag, drama, drank, dwarf, enhance, example, expanse, fable, fact, fad, falter, fan, fang,

fast, fasten, fat, father, flabbergast, flag, flan, flank, flap, flash, flask, flat, frank, gabble,

gable, gag, gala, gang, gash, gasp, ghastly, glad, glance, grab graft, gram, gran, grand,

graph, grapple, grasp, hack, had, half, halfpenny, halt, halve, ham, hand handle, hang,

hank, has, haste, hat, hatch, instalment, jab, jack, jam, jangle, khaki, la, lab, lack, lag, lamp,

lance, land, lap, lash, last, latch, lather, ma, mad, mama, man, mangle, many, map, mash,

mask, mass*, mast, mat, match, maths, pa, pack, pact, pad, paddle, palm, paltry, pan,

panorama, pants, papa, past, paste, pasty x 2 [paisty, pasty], pastry, pat, patch, path, patrol,

piano, plan, plank, plant, pram, prance, prank, prattle, psalm, pyjamas, quack, quadrangle,

qualify, quality, quantity, quarrel, quarry, quarter, quartz, quay, rack, raffle, raft, ramble,

ran, rang, rank, rascal, rash, rat, rather, rattle, reward, sack, sad, saddle, sag, salami, salt,

sand, sang sank, sap, sat, scald, scalp, scan, scramble, scrap, scratch, shaft, shah, shambles,

shrank, slack, slam, slang, slant, slap, slash, smack, smash, snack, snap, snatch, soprano, spa,

span, spangle, spank, spat, sprang, sprat, squabble, squad, squander, squash, squat, stab,

stable, stack, stag, stalk, stamp, stance, stand, straggle, strangle, strap, strata, swag,

swagger, swallow, swam, swamp, swan, swap, table, tack, tackle, tag, talk, tan, tangle,

tank, tap, task, tax, than, thank, that, thatch, thrash, track, tract, tram, tramp, trample, trance,

trap, twang, van, vast, waddle, waft, wag, wagon, walk, wallow, walnut, walrus, waltz,

wan, wand, wander, wangle, want, wanton, war, warble, ward, warm, warn, warp,

warrant, warren, warrior, wart, was, wash, wasp, watch, water, wattle, wax, yap, zap.

A

is particularly tricky for learners of standard UK English because in this accent it is often    pronounced ah/ar; other pronunciation problems of the letter a  affect all readers                                     (when it is pronounced like ai in aim,  au in haul, o in not, e in bed).

 I

followed by two consonants is normally short (tint), but in a few words listed below it has a
long sound as in line

Align, behind,  benign,  bible – biblical,  bind,  blind,  child, climb,  consign, design,  find,

grind, idle, indict,  kind - kindle,  kindred, mild,  mind,  ninth,  pint,  resign,  rind,  sign;     rifle,

stifle,  title, trifle - triple,  whilst , wild - wilderness.

 O

is often not as in spot.
It can sound like the u in cup,  oa in toast, oo as in book or  oo in boot and e as in herb

Among, block, blond, blot, bob, bog, bomb, bond, boss, both, bottle, box, brother, clock,

cobble, cock, cod, comfort, control, cop, cot, crop, cross, dock, dodge, dog, doll, don, dot, drop,

enrol, fishmonger, flock, flog, flop, fog, folk, fond, fox, frog, from, front, ghost, gloss, gobble,

god, goggle, golf, gong, got, gross, hobble, hog, hop, host, hot, job, jog, jostle, jot, lob, lock,

loft, log, long, lop, lot, mob, mock, Monday, mongrel, monk, monkey, month, mop, moss,

most, mother, nod, not, nothing, nozzle, off, on, once [wunce], only, other, ox, patrol, plot,

pod, pond, post, poster, pot, prod, prop, rob, rock, rod, roll, romp, rot, scroll, slog, slot,

smock, smother, snob, sob, sock, soft, solve, son, song, sponge, spot, stock, stop, stroll,

strong, sword, sworn, throttle, to*, today, tomb, ton, tongs, tongue, top, topple, toss, tot,

trod, troll, trot, whom, wobble, wolf, womb, won, wonder, word, work, world, worm,

worn, worry, worse, worship, worst, worth.

O-e

is often not as in bone, solo or so
(like u of cup, o of hot, short oo of wood, long oo of soon,  er of her, i of bit)

Above,  adolescence, alcove,  alone,  altogether, anemone [anemmony], antelope, approve,

arose, beloved, benevolent,  bone,  broke,  choke,  chose,  chosen, close*,  closet,  clover,

code,  colonel, colour, come, comedian,  comedy, comet, component, compose,

composer,  cone, cope,  cove, covenant,  cover,  covet,  covey, devote, discover,

discovery, dispose, doe, does,  dole,  dome, domestic, done, dose,  dove, doze, dozen,

drone, drove, elope, envelope, expose,  froze,  frozen, globe, glove, goes, gone, govern,

grocer,  grope,  grovel,  gruesome, handsome, hole,  holey,  home, honest, honey, hope,

hose,  hover, impose,  improve, insolence, insolent, joke,  Joseph, lone,  lonely, lose,

love, lozenge, mode, model, moderate*, modern, modest,  mole,  moment, monetary,

money, move, node,  none, nose,  note, novel, November,  October, omelette, omen,

one [wun], open, opera, operate, operation, oven, over, phone, poke,  pole, pope,  pose,

postpone, poverty, primrose,  process,  procession, profession, professor,  promenade,

promote,  proper,  property, propose,  protein, prove,  proven, proverb, pullover,

purpose, quote, recover, remote, rhinoceros, robe,  rode, role,  rope, rose, scone, scope,

shone, shove,  shovel, slope, slovenly, smoke, sober, sole, solemn, some,

somersault, sovereign, spoke, spoken,  stoke,  stole,  stolen, stone, stove, strode,  stroke,

suppose, syndrome, tadpole, those, throne,  together, tomorrow, token, tolerate, tone,

trombone,  vote, whole, whose, woke, woman, women, wove,  wrote,  yodel,  yoke, zone,

do,  to, two, who.

Ow

can sound like o in so  or ou in thou

Blow,  blown, bow x 2 [bo/bou], bowl,  brow, brown, brownie, browse,  clown,  cow,

coward, crow,  crowd, crown, down,  drown,  drowse,  eider-down, flow, flower,  flown,

frown, glow, gown, grow, growl, grown, growth, how, howl, know, knowledge [nollege],

known, low, mow, mown, now, owe, owl, own, powder, power, prowl, row x 2 [ro/rou],

rowan, rowdy, scowl, show, shower, shown,  slow, snow, sow x 2 [so, sou], sown,

stow, throw, thrown, tow, toward [tuward], towel, tower, town,  vow,  vowel, wow;

   and 'allow' is not like 'shallow' or 'window' [shallo, windo].

Ou

is often not as in out,
with long oo of boot,  aw of saw, o-e of sole, short oo of wood, u of cup,
o of for,   e of her

Abound,  about,  account,  acoustic, aloud ,  amount, announce,  around, arouse,  astound,

bivouac, blouse, bough*, bought, boulder, bounced, bound, boundary, bouquet,

boutique, brought, camouflage, choux, cloud, compound,  couch,  cough, could,

council, counsel, count, counter, country, county, coup [coo], couple, coupon, courage,

courier, course,  court, courtesy, cousin, crouch,  double, doubt, dough, douse,

drought, encounter,  encourage, enough, favourite, flounder,  flour,  fought, foul,  found,

foundation,  fountain, four,  fourth, ghoulish, ground,  group, hiccough [hickup],

honour [onnor], hound, hour [our],  house,  journal,  journey, loud,  lounge, lout,  mould,

moult,  mound,  mount,  mountain, mourn, mouse, mousse, moustache, mouth,

neighbour, nought, nourish, ought, ounce, our, out, outer, plough,  pouch,  poultry,

pounce,  pound,  pour, pout,  profound, pronounce, proud, rebound, resource, rough,

round, rouse, route, routine, savour, scoundrel, scout, should,  shoulder,  shout,

silhouette, slouch,  slough x2 [sluf, slou], smoulder,  snout, sought, soul,  sound,  soup,

sour, source, south, southern,  souvenir, spout, sprout,  stout,  surround, tambourine,

thorough, thou,  though,  thought, thousand,  through, toucan, touch, tough, tour,

tourist, tournament, trouble, trough, trousers,  trout,  voucher, would, wound x2

[wound/ woond],  you, young, your.

 U

is not as in cup but with the short oo sound of book, i of big and long oo of spoon

Bush,  busy, butcher,  cushion, pudding, push, put, shush, sugar, truth.

 OO

is also short, not long as in spoon, in:

Book, brook, cook, cookie, foot, good, hood, hook, look, rook, shook, stood, took,

understood, whoosh, wood, wooden, wool, woollen.

In blood, flood and brooch oo has other sounds [blud,  flud, broach]

 Ea

spells mostly ee.  The other sound for it is mainly a short e, with a few exceptions,
as ai of air or train, silent in 'beauty', as a in art, eeya in 'linear' and eea in 'theatre'              

Already, appeal,  appear, area, beach, beacon,  bead, beak,  beam, bean,  bear, beard,

beast, beat,  beauty, beaver,  beneath,  bleach, bleak, bleat, bread, breadth, break,

breakfast, breast,  breath,  breathe,  cease,  cheap,  cheat,  clean,  cleanliness, cleanse,

clear, colleague, conceal, congeal, creak, cream, crease,  create, creature,  dead,  deaf,

deal,  dealt, dean, dear,  death, decrease,  defeat, disease, dread,  dream,  dreamt,

dreary,  each, eager, eagle, ear, earl,  early, earn,  earnest, earth, ease,  Easter, east,

eat, eaves, endeavour, fear,  feast,  feat, feather, feature, flea,  freak, gear,  gleam,

glean, grease,  great, head,  heal, health,  heap, hear,  heard, heart, hearth, heat,

heath, heathen, heather, heave, heaven,  heavy, hydrangea,  increase, instead,

jealous,  jeans,  knead,  laureate, leach, lead x 2 [leed, led], leaf,  league, leak,  lean, leant,

leap,  leapt, learn, lease, leash, least, leather, leave, linear, meadow, meagre,  meal,

mean,  meant, measles, measure,  meat, near,  neat, nuclear, ordeal,  pageant, peace,

peach, peak,  peal, peanut, pear, pearl, peas,  peasant, peat,  pheasant, plea,  plead,

pleasant, please,  pleasure, pleat, preach,  queasy, reach, read x 2 [leed, led],  ready, real,

reality, really,  realm, reap, rear,  reason, rehearse, release, repeat,  retreat,  reveal,

scream,  sea,  seal, seam,  sear, search, season,  seat, sheaf, shear, sheath,  smear,  sneak,

speak, spear, spread, squeak,  squeal, squeamish, steady,  steak, steal, stealthy, steam,

streak,  stream, swear, sweat, tea, teach, teak,  team, tears x 2 [teers, tairs],  tease,

theatre, thread,  threat, treacherous, treacle, treadmill,  treason,  treasure, treat,

treaty,  veal, weak,  wealth, wean,  weapon,  wear, weary, weasel,  weather, weave,

wheat, wreak, wreath,  year, yearn, yeast, zeal,  zealous.

Ei

spells   ee,  ai and several other sounds: e of bed, ie of tie, i of bit and ee-i

Ceiling, conceit, conceive,  deceit, deceive, deign, eight, either*, Fahrenheit,  feign, foreign,

forfeit, freight, heifer, height, heir, kaleidoscope, leisure*, neigh, neither*,  protein,

receipt, receive, reign, reindeer, reinforce, reins, seize, sheikh,  skein, sleigh, sleight,

sovereign, their, veil,  vein, weigh, weight, weir,  weird.

Ie

spells ee   and several other sounds:
ie of tie,  e of end, -ye of dryer,  ee-ye,   i of sit and je).

Achieve, alien, amplifier, ancient, anxiety, barrier, belief,  believe, brief, carrier, cavalier,

chandelier,  chief,  client, conscience, convenient, crier, die, diesel, diet, field, fiend, fierce,

friend, frontier, glacier, glockenspiel,  grief,  grieve, handkerchief,  hygiene,  ingredient,

interview, lenient, lie,  lieutenant [leftennant], medieval,  mischief, movie, niece, obedient,

oriental, pannier, patient, pie, piece, pier,  pierce, pliers, premier, priest, proprietor,

quiet, relief,  relieve, review, science, series, shield,  shriek, siege, sieve, society, soldier,

soviet, spaniel, species, thief,  thieve, tie, tier, twentieth, variety, vie, view, wheelie,  wield,

yield.

Ui

has several unpredictable pronunciations: short i, i-e, yoo,  yoo-i/oo-i, oo, wi, wee.

Anguish, biscuit, bruise, build, built, circuit, cruise, disguise, distinguish, fluid, fruit,

genuine, guidance,  guide, guillotine,  guilt,  guinea-pig, guitar, intuition, juice, nuisance,

penguin, pursuit, recruit, ruined, sluice, suicide, suit,  suitable, suite, tuition.

Ch

is not always as in chat: k,  sh   and some other pronunciations

Ache, anchor, archaeology, architect, architecture, avalanche, bronchial, bronchitis,

chalet,  chameleon, chamois, champagne, chaos, character, charade, chasm, chef,

chemical, chemistry, chivalrous, choir [quier], cholesterol, chorus, christen,  Christmas,

chrysalis,  chute, crochet, echo, lichen* [litchen or liken], machine, mechanical, mechanism,

microfiche, monarch, orchestra, orchid, parachute, psychology, richochet,  schedule,

scheme, spinach [spinnage], stomach,  technique, yacht [yot].

Ge, gi

and

gy

have the sounds je and ji, as in  gentle, ginger and gym.
In the words below the g is hard, as in gap and got.

Anger,   bogey,  eager,   finger,   fishmonger,   forget,   gear,   geese,  get,   geyser,

hamburger,   hunger,   linger,   target,   tiger,  together,

begin,   corgi,  giddy,  gift,  giggle,  gild,  gills,   gilt,   girder,   girdle,   girl,   give, given,

forgive, longevity,   longitude,

gymkhana.

-se

When this ending follows a vowel, it is pronounced mainly Z
                                                 (as in erase, cheese, rise, rose, fuse).
In the following words it has an S-sound:

Base, case, chase, purchase, cease, crease, grease, increase, release, geese, these,

practise, precise, premise, promise, tortoise, dose, goose, loose, noose, purpose,

douse, mouse.

Missing or misleading doubled consonants

One of the biggest problems in learning to read English is decoding vowel length.

Vowels followed by one consonant and another vowel, as in
game, legal, time, bone,  tune,
are supposed to be long.

Short vowels in words of more than one syllable should be followed by a doubled consonant, as in
grammar, beggar, imminent, bonny, button, or ck and dge, as in chicken and badger,

This rule is often broken.

Many words with a short vowel have missing doubled consonants or other spellings
                                      Sometimes the short vowels are spelt unpredictably too.

Cabinet, cabaret, cabin,  elaborate, fabulous, habit,  nebula, liberal, liberty,  tribute,
probable,  robin;

academy, vacuum, decade, executive, recognise,  record (noun),  second, secular, liquor,
liquorice, crocodile, documents;

adequate, radical, radish,   already credit, dedicated, edible,  edit,  educate, federal,
medal, medical,   meadow,  pedal, pedigree,   ready,   steady, hideous, video, body,
modern, modest, produce (noun),  study;

café, refuge, refuse (noun),   heifer, magnificent, significant, profit,
agony, dragon, flagon,  hexagonal,  wagon,  negative, brigand, frigate;

magic, tragic,  legend, legislate, regiment, register, vegetable,  pigeon, religion, rigid,  logic;

analysis, balance, calendar, chalet,  galaxy, italic,  morality, palace, palate, palette,
reality, salad,  salary, salon, talent, talon,  valentine,  valiant,  valid, value, vitality, celery, delegate, delicacy, deluge, develop,  element, eligible, helicopter,     jealous, melody,
melon, pelican, relevant, relic,  skeleton,  telescope,   zealous, ability, bilious, military, ventriloquist,  polythene,  cylinder, abolish, colony, column, demolish, holiday,  olive,
knowledge, policy, politics,   quality , solemn, solid,  tolerate, volume ,  voluntary, colour;

amateur, camel, camera, damage, dynamic,  enamel, famine, famished, laminate,
cemetery, chemical,  democrat, emerald, epidemic, memory, remedy, lemon,  feminine, premise, semi, criminal, eliminate, limit,  timid,  image, abominable,  comet, comic,
dominate, domino, economic,  prominent, promise, vomit;

animal, anorak, banish, banister, canopy, manage, manor, organic, panel,  panic,  spaniel, vanish, manual, benefit, any, enemy, energy,  menace, many, penetrate,  venison,
lieutenant, aluminium, cinema, clinical, cynical,   synagogue,  synonym,  continue, finish,
linear, minimal, minister, minute*,  opinion, sinister, spinach, vinegar, anonymous,
astonish, conifer, economy, electronic, mnemonic, monastery,  monarch,  monument,
supersonic, tonic,   honey,   money,  onion;

capital, capitol, chapel,  rapid,  tapestry, epic,  leper, tepid, separate, typical,  copy, opera, operate, proper,  property,  topic,  popular,  tropics;

Arab, arable, arid,  asparagus,  baron,  caramel,  caravan, caricature, carol,  chariot, charity, clarity, comparison, garage, parasol,  parish, transparent, America, beret, bury, ceremony, cherish, derelict, herald, heritage, heroine,  heron, merit, peril,  perish, sincerity, sterilise, therapist, very, ,conspiracy, empirical,   lyric, miracle, pyramid, spirit, syrup,  tyranny, authority, coral, florist, forest, historic,  horoscope,   laurel, majority, minority, moral,  orange, priority,   quarantine, thorough,  courage,   nourish;

acid, capacity, pacifist, recipe, specify, specimen,  decimal,  chrysalis, electricity, explicit, municipal,  participate, precipice, publicity, simplicity, solicitor, velocity, sausage;

atom, baton, catalogue,  catapult, category, compatible,  lateral, latitude, matinee,
platinum,  platypus,  satin,  strategy, athletic, magnetic,  metal,  petal,  tetanus,  veteran,
yeti, competitive, analytic, British, citizen, city, critical,  literally,  obliterate, pity, botany;

hazard, hesitate, desert, designate, desolate, hesitate, present, president, resident,
lizard, miserable, prison,  risen,  scissors, visible, visit,  wizard, wizened,  closet,  deposit,
lozenge,  positive.

Some words have doubled consonants which do not follow a short, stressed vowel

They make words longer (and thereby automatically more difficult for beginners) and they undermine the reliability of doubled consonants that serve a phonic function, as in
  accurate, daffodil,  rebellious, comment, annual, opposite, tomorrow, professor, forgotten.
They also mislead inexperienced readers to place stress on the wrong syllable, instead of the vowel which carries it (underlined):

Accommodate, accommodation, accompany, accomplish, accord, accordion, account,
accumulate, accuse, accustom, occasion, occupation, occurrence, succumb,

affection, afford, paraffin, affair, affect, effect, efficient, differential, diffusion, offend, official, sufficient, chauffeur,

llama, parallel, really, excellent, hello, jewellery, marvellous, satellite, constellation, caterpillar, illegible, illiterate, illusion, illustration, illuminate, pastille, tonsillitis, collage, collapse, collect, collide,

ammunition, programme, immediate, immense, immortal, immune, command, commemorate, commence, commercial, commit, commodities, commotion, communication, communion, community, commuter, committee, recommend, 

anniversary, announce, annoy, connect, personnel, mayonnaise, questionnaire,

appal, apparatus, apparent, appeal, appear, appendix, applaud, apply, appoint, appreciate, apprentice, approach, appropriate, approve, approximate, hippopotamus, opportunity, oppose, supply, support, suppose,

arrange, array,  arrest,  arrive,  barricade, erratic, interrupt, serrated, terrific, irregular,
irrigation, torrential, correspond, correct, correlation, hurrah, curriculum, surrender, surround,

assail, assassin, assault , assemble, assert, assessment, assign, assist, associate, assort, assume, cassette, embassy, dessert, essential, necessary, possess, possibility,

battalion, tattoo, mattress, attach, attain, attempt, attend, attention, attorney, attract, attributed, omelette, palette, settee.

Words with v

nearly all pose problems in learning to read English, because this letter is usually not doubled after a short vowel (e.g. never) and a final –v is usually followed by –e, making it difficult to tell if a vowel before a v is long or short (gave – have) or which vowel is stressed (severe – several).
   Os before Vs are especially tricky.

Above, alcove, alive, approve, arrive, avenue, average, aviary,  aviation, avoid, behave, beloved, brave, cavalry, cave, cavern, cavity, chivalrous,  civic,  civil, civilian, clever, clover,  cove, covenant, cover, covet, covey, crave, crevice, d