Kindergarten Word Families

A word family consists of a group of words that share an ending part of a word (rime), e.g. rug, bug & hug. In addition to recognizing rhymes, knowledge of short vowel sounds is crucial when learning to read and spell. Interestingly, short vowel sounds can be the hardest for beginner readers to match to letters.

Word Families

Many reading programs introduce word families in kindergarten as they offer exposure to both short vowels and rhymes. The following word families were introduced to both of my children in kindergarten:

Listed in the order they were introduced.

AT Word Family

bat

cat

fat

hat

sat

AN Word Family

can

fan

man

pan

ran

AD Word Family

bad

dad

had

mad

sad

AP Word Family

cap

lap

map

nap

tap

AG Word Family

bag

rag

sag

tag

wag

OP Word Family

cop

hop

mop

pop

top

OT Word Family

cot

dot

got

hot

pot

OG Word Family

dog

fog

hog

jog

log

UG Word Family

bug

hug

jug

mug

rug

UT Word Family

but

cut

gut

hut

nut

UN Word Family

bun

fun

nun

run

sun

ET Word Family

get

jet

let

met

net

EG Word Family

beg

leg

Meg

peg

EN Word Family

hen

Ken

men

pen

ten

IN Word Family

bin

fin

pin

tin

win

IT Word Family

bit

hit

kit

pit

sit

IG Word Family

big

dig

jig

pig

wig

Many of our children were exposed to word families at a very early age through nursery rhymes. In fact, children who enter kindergarten familiar with nursery rhymes tend to learn to read with more ease.