Word Families
A word family is a group of words that share a common spelling and sound pattern, usually at the end of the word.
Learning word families helps us notice patterns and can make it easier to read and build new simple words.
Learning Objectives
- Understand what a word family is.
- Recognise common word-family patterns.
- Read words that belong to the same family.
- Build new words using familiar patterns.
The -at Word Family
The words below share the ending pattern -at.
These words have the same ending letters and a related ending sound pattern.
The -an Word Family
These words share the -an pattern.
The -ig Word Family
These words share the -ig pattern.
Changing the Beginning
In many simple word families, changing the beginning letter creates a different word while keeping the common ending pattern.
h + at → hat
m + at → mat
The ending pattern stays the same while the beginning letter changes.
Why Word Families Help
Once you know one word in a family, the familiar pattern can help you read another word.
Recognising the common -at pattern can help when reading each word.
Common Mistakes
- Do not call words a family only because they begin with the same letter.
- Look for a shared spelling and sound pattern.
- Remember that words in the same family can have different meanings.
- Read the complete word instead of guessing from the ending alone.
Practice
1. Which word belongs with cat: hat or sun?
2. Complete the word family: cat, bat, ___.
3. Which pattern do can and fan share?
4. Make a new word from the -ig family.
5. What is a word family?
Try It Yourself
Start with the word cat. Change only the first letter to make as many new -at words as you can.
Quick Revision
- Word families contain words with a common spelling and sound pattern.
- Changing the beginning of a word can create another family word.
- Word families help us recognise patterns while reading.
Next Step
In the final lesson, you will use your letter, sound and word-family knowledge to read and build new simple words.