Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
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Word families, also know as "chunks", help students learn to read  by providing some predicitable patterns within words.  Our brains learn best by recognizing and storing patterns for quick retrieval.  Below are some of the most common chunks which can be used to decode 400+ words.

Watch our list grow throughout the year as the exicitng world of reading continues to grow and develop within us.


--ack 
back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track

--ail
bail, Gail, fail, hail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, quail, snail, trail, wail

--ain
gain, main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train

--ake
bake, cake, fake, Jake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, drake, flake, shake, snake, stake

--ale
bale, Dale, gale, pale, male, sale, tale, Yale, scale, stale, whale
 

--ame
 came, dame, fame, game, lame, name, same, tame, blame, flame, frame, shame  

--an
can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than

--and
band, bland, brand, gland, hand, land, sand, stand

--ank
bank, sank, tank, yank, blank, clank, crank, drank, Frank, spank, thank
 

--ap
cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap

--ate
ate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, Nate, plate, rate, skate, state
 

--ash
bash, cash, dash, gash, hash, lash, mash, rash, sash, clash, crash, flash, smash, splash, thrash, trash
 
   

--at
bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that

--aw
caw, haw, jaw, law, maw, paw, raw, saw, claw, draw, flaw, gnaw

--ell
bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell

--est
best, quest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest

--ice
dice, lice, mice, nice, rice, vice, price, slice, spice, twice, entice
 

--ick
kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick

--ide
hide, ride, side, tide, wide, glide, pride, slide

--ight
fight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, knight, slight, delight, tonight, uptight
 

--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
dine, fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, shine, shrine, spine, swine, 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
 

--it
bit, fit, hit, lit, sit, wit, chit, flit, grit, knit, kit, quit, spit, split

--ock
lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, knock, shock, smock, stock

--oil
boil, coil, foil, oil, soil, toil, spoil
 

--oke
Coke, joke, poke, woke, broke, bloke, choke, smoke, spoke, stoke, stroke, awoke
 

--op
cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop

--ore
bore, core, fore, gore, lore, more, ore, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store, before, galore, ignore
 

--ot
cot, got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, pot, rot, tot, plot, slot, spot, trot
 

--uck
buck, duck, luck, muck, puck, tuck, cluck, pluck, stuck, truck

--ug
bug, dug, jug, lug, mug, rug, tug, plug, shrug, smug, snug, thug

--ump
bump, dump, hump, jump, lump, pump, plump, slump, stump

--unk
junk, chunk, drunk, sunk, hunk, flunk,  plunk, shrunk, spunk, stunk, trunk