Word families

What is this skill?

A word family is a group of words that share an ending spelling and sound: cat, hat, mat and sat are the -at family; pig, big, dig and wig are the -ig family. Teachers call that shared ending a rime. A child who can read the ending as one chunk only needs to swap the first letter, so a single known word turns into several new ones.

This practice covers families such as -at, -an, -in, -ig, -op, -ug, -ot and -it, then stretches to -ake, -ell and -ing. Children find which word belongs to a family, sort words into two families, spot the word that does not belong, and answer whether a word such as hat is in the -ot family. One kind of question is close to how word families are taught in class: "Here is cat. Take off the c and put h in its place. What word do you get?"

Why it matters

Word families let a child read by analogy, which means using a word they know to figure out one they do not. If they can read cake and meet lake, they already have most of it. This is faster than sounding out every letter, and it is how skilled readers handle longer words too, spotting the familiar chunk inside.

The same patterns help with spelling, because they show that English is more regular than it looks. A child who can spell ring can spell sing, king and wing. Word families also connect naturally with the rhyming work from kindergarten: words in a family rhyme, and now the child can see why.

Common mistakes

• Changing the ending along with the first letter. Asked to change the c in cat to h, a child might say hot or hit. Cover the -at with a finger, change the first letter, then uncover it, so that it is plain the ending stays put.
• Choosing by first letter. A child hunting for the -in family may pick pan or pen beside pin, because all three start with p. Have them look at the last two letters, and then say them out loud.
• Thinking all rhymes are one family. Rhyme is about sound and a family is about sound and spelling. Cake and steak rhyme, but only cake is in the -ake family. It is a fine point, so mention it only if your child asks.

How to help at home

• Fold a strip of paper so that an ending like -at is on one flap, then write first letters on a second strip and slide them along to make new words.
• Pick a family and race to list as many real words as you can, then add one silly word for fun. Say which ones are real.
• Use magnetic letters on the fridge. Leave -ug in place and change the first letter whenever you walk past: bug, hug, rug, mug.
• When your child stops at a new word in a book, ask, "Do you know a word that looks like the end of this one?" Then let them work it out.

Worked examples

These are real questions from the Tutorsaurus word families practice, with the answers worked out.

1. Example 1

   Sort the words: -at or -op?

   To sort: cat, hop, hat, top, mat, mop

   Answer: -at: cat, hat, mat · -op: hop, top, mop. Cat, hat and mat are -at words. Hop, top and mop are -op words.

2. Example 2

   Is 'hat' in the -ot family?

   hat

   Answer: No. Hat ends with a-t, so it is in the -at family. Hot would be in the -ot family.

3. Example 3

   Which word is in the -ell family?

   Choices: bell, bill, ball

   Answer: bell. Bell ends with e-l-l, so it is in the -ell family.

Printable worksheet (PDF) — one page of questions from this practice that work on paper, easier ones first, with an answer key on page 2. Free to print, no sign-up.