What are word families? They are groups of words that have a common feature or pattern. They have the same letter combinations — a similar sound — and they're a wonderful tool for those new to spelling.
Word Families List
According to the National Council of Teachers of English, there are 37 common word families. Below, we'll show you each word family, as well as example words that belong to each word family. Ready to get phonetic?
Word Families | |||||
ack | attack black hack pack quack rack snack whack | ay | bay clay day delay gray may okay play | ink | blink drink link pink rink sink stink think |
ain | brain chain complain explain gain main pain rain | eat | beat cheat eat heat meat neat seat treat | ip | chip dip drip flip grip hip lip ship |
ake | awake bake cake fake make rake snake take | ell | bell dwell farewell fell sell shell smell tell | it | admit bit fit hit knit pit quit split |
ale | bale gale kale male pale sale scale stale | est | best chest crest nest pest rest test west | ock | block clock dock flock knock lock rock sock |
all | all ball call fall hall install mall tall | ice | dice ice mice nice price rice slice twice | oke | awoke broke choke joke poke spoke woke yoke |
ame | blame came fame flame frame game name same | ick | brick click flick kick lick pick sick trick | op | bop chop crop drop hop mop pop shop |
an | ban can clan fan man pan plan ran | ide | bride decide hide ride side slide tide wide | ore | chore core more score sore store tore wore |
ank | bank blank crank drank plank prank sank thank | ight | bright delight fight height knight right sight tonight | ot | blot cot dot forgot hot knot lot spot |
ap | cap clap flap gap lap map nap trap | ill | bill drill hill mill pill skill still will | uck | buck chuck cluck duck pluck stuck truck tuck |
ash | bash crash dash flash rash sash smash splash | in | bin chin fin grin pin skin sin thin | ug | bug dug hug jug mug rug shrug snug |
at | bat cat chat flat hat mat rat sat | ine | decline define dine fine mine pine shine vine | ump | bump clump dump jump plump pump slump stump |
ate | crate date gate grate late plate rate state | ing | bring cling fling king ring sing thing wing | unk | bunk chunk flunk funk junk skunk sunk trunk |
aw | claw draw flaw jaw law paw saw straw |
Spelling and Reading With Word Families
Word families help students learn to read, while building their vocabulary. Being able to recognize patterns and common phonetic sounds is the foundation for strong spelling skills. Of course, not every word in the English language can be simply sounded out, but this is an ideal place to start.
Let's take the word family "all" as an example. This will allow students to learn simple spelling words, such as "ball" and "call." But, that understanding can be built upon, when you consider how many other words belong to the "all" family. From "ball", students can advance to tougher words, such as enthrall, install, and squall.