Word Families
Here are the 37 most common phonograms and some of the 500 words they make up. Remember that although this list contains only one-syllable words, these phonograms will help students decode longer words, too.
A comprehensive list of phonograms is available in The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists.
Back to the introduction for "Word Families"--ab
cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab--ack
back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track--ag
bag, rag, tag, brag, flag--ail
fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail--ain
main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train--ake
bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake--am
ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam--an
can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than--ank
bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank--ap
cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap--at
bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that--ay
day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray--eed
feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed--ell
bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell--est
best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest--ew
dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew--ick
kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick--ight
knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight--ill
fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill--in
bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin--ine
fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine--ing
king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing--ink
link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think--ip
dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip--ob
knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob--ock
knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock--op
cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop--ore
bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store--ot
got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot--out
grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout--ow
cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow--uck
buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck--um
gum, hum, drum, plum, slum--unk
junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk-y
by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, whyReference: Wylie, R.E., & Durrell, D.D. (1970). Teaching vowels through phonograms. Elementary English: 47, 787-791.
Many more phonograms can be found in The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists by Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis. Prentice Hall, 2000.
