Most Common Word Families

Most Common Word Families
According to researchers Wylie and Durrel, there are 37 common word families: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, aw, ay, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill, in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck ,ug, ump, unk.

ack- back, hack, pack, rack

ain - brain, chain, main, plain

ake - awake, bake, cake, fake

ale - ale, bale, sale, tale

all - all, ball, call, hall

ame - blame, came, game, same

an - an, ban, can, pan

ank - bank, drank, sank, tank

ap - cap, map, rap, tap

ash - bash, dash, rash, sash

at - bat, cat, fat, mat

ate - fate, gate, late, rate

aw - claw, draw, paw, saw

ay - day, hay, may, say

eat - beat, feat, meat, seat

ell - bell, fell, tell, well

est - best, rest, vest, west

ice - dice, mice, nice, rice

ick - brick, kick, pick, sick

ide - bride, hide, ride, side

ight - bright, fight, light, night

ill - bill, hill, pill, still

in - bin, chin, grin, tin

ine - dine, fine, mine, vine

ing - bring, king, sing, wing

ink - drink, link, pink, sink

ip - chip, dip, lip, sip

it - bit, fit, hit, sit


ock - block, clock, rock, sock

op - cop, hop, mop, top

ore - bore, more, sore, tore

ot - got, hot, not, rot

uck - buck, duck luck, tuck

ug - bug, hug, mug, rug

ump - bump, dump, jump, pump

unk - bunk, dunk, junk,sunk

Source: Richard E. Wylie and Donald D. Durrell, 1970. "Teaching Vowels Through Phonograms." Elementary English 47, 787-791.