The Challenge of Blending Sounds Into Words – Why Most Instructors Can’t Do It! Once a student knows how to figure out sounds and sound combinations, they are ready to use these skills to sound ourt phonetically regular words. Of the most common 1000 words in English, which constitute 85% of all written material, 650 are phonetically regular words and can be quickly and easily unlocked with appropriate blending skills as you can see below. Here’s a secret to help your students learn to blend 650 words.