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. Teaching word families order is a key component of foundational spelling education.

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 family lists progresses from simple VC (vowel consonant) spelling patterns (it, an) to CVC, CVCe, and VCC spelling patterns.

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View Common Core State Standards Related to Word Families Close

Common Core State Standards Related to Word Families

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2.f
Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.

View Word Families Lists at a Glance Close

-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 family 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.