I know that it seems strange that we use nonsense words to teach and assess reading. We do this for several reasons. We use them to teach children to pay attention to the sounds they see and then blend them together. Often students get very good at memorizing words they see often. Also, they help students read larger words. For example, the word fabric. If they can read fab and ric, they can read fabric. Below are some practice pages to help your child read nonsense words.