PURPOSE: To verify the relationship between words belonging and not belonging to the Children Phonological Assessment (CPA) and the variables age, gender, and severity level of phonological disorders (PD), and to analyze the most frequently produced and substituted words in the CPA. METHODS: Participants were 45 children with PD of both genders, aged between 4 years and 7 years and 11 months. The speech corpus was composed of 6463 words, divided into belonging and not belonging in the CPA. The sample was divided according to age, gender and severity level of the PD. Data were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: There was greater production of words not belonging in the CPA, and significant relationship between belonging or not belonging in the CPA according to age, gender, and severity level of PD. The target-words produced more frequently were those referring to names of objects belonging to the daily routine of children, unlike substitutions, which were more frequent when the target-word corresponded to objects visually unknown to the children. CONCLUSION: The production of the words belonging in the CPA is influenced by age, gender and severity level of phonological disorders. It is essential that the words selected for a phonological assessment consider these variables, as well as regional aspects, grammatical class of noun, and the child's repertory.