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This Word Family List is based on a programme I use every day in my teaching. Alpha to Omega by Beve Hornsby is my bible and it never leaves my bag! Scroll to the bottom for associated products.

Click here for word family and grammar word searches.

First some definitions:
The vowels are a,e,i,o,u.

Sometimes ‘y’ is used as a vowel as in the word ‘happy’ - here it takes the ‘ee’ sound.

It can also take the long ‘i’ sound as in ‘cry'.

The consonants are all the letters in the alphabet that are not vowels.

What is a blend?
A blend is 2 or 3 consonants that run into one another. You should be able to hear the consonants when you say the word. eg. s/t/e/p/ where st is the blend.

What is a digraph?
A digraph is two letters next door to each other that make one single sound.
  • ch is a consonant digraph because you cannot hear the ‘c’ and the ‘h’ separately but only as one sound.

  • ai is a vowel digraph as in the word ‘snail’. Again, you cannot hear a separate ‘a’ and ‘i’ but only one vowel sound.


    • Start with . . .
    For teaching purposes the first step is to make sure all the sounds in the alphabet are securely known.

    Then the short vowel sounds should be learnt. These feature in CVC words or consonant-vowel-consonant words.

    ham ten bit pop mum
    cat bed pin hot cub


    Here is the main word family list.

    It is not an exhaustive list but it does cover the main areas in a spelling programme for the English language. Click here to print it as a pdf.

    The Blends

    bl . . . black cr . . . crab fr . . . frog
    br . . . brick dr . . . drum gl . . . glum
    cl . . . clock fl . . . flag gr . . . grip


    pl . . . plan sl . . . slip sp . . . spin
    pr . . . print sm . . . smile st . . . stand
    sc . . . scarf sn . . . snow sw . . . swim


    tr . . . trip shr . . . shred squ . . . squeak
    tw . . . twin spl . . . splash str . . . string
    scr . . . scratch spr . . . spring thr . . . three


    Consonant Digraphs
    ch . . . chip sh . . . ship th . . . thing wh . . . white ph . . . phone


    Other Sounds
    -nd . . .
    band     		-mp . . .
    camp     		-ng . . .
    sing     		-nk . . .
    bank


    ar . . . star qua . . . quad -ck . . . back
    or . . . short -ll . . . roll -ve . . . love
    er . . . letter -ss . . . boss soft c . . . century
    wa . . . watch -ff . . . cliff soft g . . . giant


    Magic ‘e’
    By adding the final ‘e’, the first vowel says its name. So instead of ‘sam’, we have ‘same’ with the ‘a’ saying its alphabet name rather than the sound of ‘a’ at the beginning of ‘apple‘.

    a-e . . .
    cake    		 e-e . . .
    Pete    		 i-e . . .
    line    		 o-e . . .
    home    		 u-e . . .
    huge


    Vowel Digraphs
    ai . . . tail ew . . . chew oi . . . spoil au . . . caught
    ay . . . tray igh . . . high oy . . . boy aw . . . saw
    oa . . . road ee . . . feet ou . . . sound ir . . . stir
    ow . . . low ea . . . beat ow . . . brown ear . . . hear


    Common endings in more than one syllable words
    -ble . . . table -fle . . . trifle -gle . . . gurgle
    -cle . . . circle -ple . . . purple -kle . . . sparkle
    -dle . . . candle -tle . . . little -zle . . . dazzle


    -tion . . .
    fiction    		 -cious . . .
    precious    		 -ary . . .
    January
    -sion . . .
    explosion    		 -cian . . .
    musician    		 -ory . . .
    story
    -ture . . .
    adventure    		 -ic . . .
    music    		 -ery . . .
    discovery



    Click here for a Printable Word Families pdf.


    Recommended Spelling Programme

    My personal preference - and the programme much of this page is based on - is Alpha to Omega by Beve Hornsby

    There are also Alpha to Omega Flashcards available and an Activity Book.




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