Word Families

Word families are groups of words with common endings, also known as phonograms or rimes. The endings include the vowel (or vowels that make up the vowel sound) and the consonant letters that follow.

Grouping words into word families is a useful way to begin teaching spelling. In kindergarten, children hear and say rhyming words and begin to learn spelling patterns that form the basis for many common syllables. Word study for word families progresses from simple VC (vowel consonant) spelling patterns (it, an) to CVC, CVCe, and VCC spelling patterns.

View Common Core State Standards Related to Word FamiliesClose

Common Core State Standards Related to Word Families


View Words at a GlanceClose

-ack: back, black, crack, pack, quack, rack, sack, stack, tack, track

-ail: fail, jail, mail, nail, pail, rail, sail, snail, tail, trail

-ain: brain, chain, drain, gain, grain, main, pain, rain, stain, train

-ake: bake, cake, fake, flake, lake, make, rake, shake, snake, take

-ale: bale, male, pale, sale, scale, stale, tale, whale

-ame: blame, came, fame, flame, frame, game, name, same, shame, tame

-an: can, fan, man, pan, plan, ran, tan, than, van

-ank: bank, blank, crank, drank, prank, rank, sank, spank, tank, thank

-ap: cap, clap, flap, lap, map, nap, snap, tap, trap, zap

-ash: cash, crash, dash, flash, mash, rash, slash, smash, splash, trash

-at: bat, cat, fat, flat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, that

-ate: crate, date, gate, hate, late, mate, plate, rate, skate, state

-aw: claw, draw, flaw, jaw, law, raw, saw, straw, thaw

-ay: day, hay, pay, play, pray, ray, say, spray, stay, tray, way

-eat: beat, cheat, eat, heat, meat, neat, seat, treat, wheat

-ell: bell, cell, fell, sell, shell, smell, spell, tell, well, yell

-est: best, chest, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, zest

-ice: dice, mice, nice, price, rice, slice, spice, twice

-ick: brick, chick, click, kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, stick, trick

-ide: glide, hide, pride, ride, side, slide, tide, wide

-ight: bright, fight, flight, fright, light, might, night, right, sight, tight

-ill: chill, drill, fill, grill, hill, kill, mill, pill, quill, shrill, skill, spill, still, thrill, will

-in: bin, chin, fin, grin, pin, skin, spin, tin, thin, win

-ine: dine, fine, line, mine, nine, pine, shine, spine, swine, vine

-ing: bring, cling, king, ring, sing, sting, string, swing, thing, wing

-ink: blink, drink, ink, link, pink, rink, sink, stink, think, wink

-ip: clip, dip, hip, lip, nip, ship, sip, tip, trip, zip

-it: bit, fit, hit, kit, lit, pit, sit, slit, flit, grit

-ock: block, clock, dock, flock, knock, lock, mock, rock, shock, sock

-oke: broke, choke, joke, poke, smoke, spoke, stroke, woke

-op: chop, drop, flop, hop, mop, plop, pop, shop, stop, top

-ore: chore, core, more, score, shore, snore, sore, store, tore, wore

-ot: dot, got, hot, lot, not, pot, plot, rot, trot, shot

-uck: cluck, duck, luck, pluck, puck, snuck, stuck, struck, truck, tuck

-ug: bug, drug, hug, jug, mug, plug, rug, slug, snug, tug

-unk: bunk, chunk, dunk, flunk, hunk, junk, skunk, stunk, sunk, trunk

VocabularySpellingCity.com provides word lists, printables, and interactive games and activities that give students the opportunity to use spelling patterns and generalizations in writing words.

Try Audio Word Match with the -ight word family list.