Word Families: -at, -an, -ig

Words that belong together

A word family is a group of words that share the same ending. When words end the same way, they belong to the same family! Today we will meet three families: -at, -an and -ig.

The -at family

These words all end in -at. Change the first letter to make a new word.

• c + at = cat 🐱
• h + at = hat 🎩
• b + at = bat 🦇
• m + at = mat 🧶
• r + at = rat 🐀

See? Just swap the first letter and you get a brand new word!

The -an family

Now the -an family. The ending stays the same, the first sound changes.

• m + an = man 🧍
• p + an = pan 🍳
• f + an = fan 🪭
• v + an = van 🚐
• r + an = ran 🏃

The -ig family

Here is the -ig family.

• p + ig = pig 🐷
• d + ig = dig ⛏️
• w + ig = wig 💇
• b + ig = big 🐘
• f + ig = fig 🟣

Family swap game

Pick an ending and try every letter at the front. Say each word out loud. Is it a real word? Some will be, some will be silly!

-at: cat, fat, sat, pat... ✅ -ig: pig, jig, rig, zig... ✅

Why families help you read

When you know one word in a family, you can read all of them. You only need to change the first sound. That makes reading much faster and easier!

Family	Words
-at	cat, hat, bat, mat
-an	man, pan, fan, van
-ig	pig, dig, wig, big

Brilliant reading!

You can now read three whole word families. Look for these endings in your books. How many -at, -an and -ig words can you spot?

Next, try Blending Sounds into Words and Rhyming Words.