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3. Word Families Sound Alike and Look Alike

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We will use the term Memory Helper in this lesson.  This is simply any trick or gimmick you can think of that will help you remember which words are spelled alike - which ones belong to the same family.  We have made up silly sentences using two or more words from the same family  with the idea that if you know how to spell one of the rhyming words, then you will know how to spell the others because they will have the same endings.  If you know the words already, there is no need to do this, but if you have trouble with some of them, this may help.  You will also be using the words correctly in a sentence, hopefully, which will improve your vocabulary.

1. Words that have the Long A+R sound. This sound is represented by several different spelling combinations in English: -AIR, -ARE, -ERR, -EIR.   If you think of the different spellings as different families, then you can remember how to spell the words by remembering what family they are part of.
Words containing the sound of Long A + R
fair hair care ware glare stare
repair unfair dare beware mare pare
lair stair bare rare scare tare
pair affair error terror fare hare
heir err terrible terrier flare flair

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2. Words that have the Long E+R sound. This sound is represented by the following spellings: -EAR, -EER, -ERE, -IER .  Remember the words as part of a family. 

Words containing the sound of Long E + R
dear sear tear beer steer career bier
ear rear year deer veer here tier
fear near clear jeer peer mere spear
gear hear smear leer queer interfere sincere

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3. Words that have the Long A+T sound. This sound is represented by the following spellings: -ATE, -AIT, -EAT, -EIGHT, -AIGHT.  Four of the groups, or Families, are rather small,  so you should be able to remember them easily. 

Words containing the sound of Long A + T
ate gate pate state bait great grate
bate hate rate rebate gait eight trait
date late sate plate wait freight straight
fate mate rotate crate plait weight plait

 

4. Words that have the Long A + N sound can be a pain. This sound is represented by the following spellings: -ANE, -AIN, -EIGN, -EIN. Study and learn the words as part of a group or family.  

Memory Helpers: "The man down the lane hit Jane with a cane." "What will you gain if you remain in the rain?" "Cain tried in vain to explain why Able was slain."

Words containing the sound of Long A + N
bane mane wane gain slain refrain rein
cane pane crane main explain maintain vein
Dane plane Cain pain detain deign skein
Jane sane chain rain remain feign  
lane vane drain vain contain reign  

 

5. Words with the Long E + N sound can be seen next: This sound is produced with the following sets of letters: -EEN, -EAN, -ENE, -INE.  The first two groups are the main ones, so you should study them well.
Words containing the sound of Long E + N
between keen bean mean gene xylene dexodrine
careen preen dean wean neoprene gasoline Murine
seen spleen jean clean kerosene Vasoline green
teen queen lean scene carotene Visine marine

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6. Words that have the  Long A + L sound: This sound is made by these letter combinations: -ALE, -AIL, -EIL.  The first two are by far the most common, and the only way to learn which words belong in which group is to STUDY, MEMORIZE, READ and WRITE the words as much as you can.

Words containing the sound of Long A + L
bale male vale flail pail wail trail
dale pale Yale hail rail retail Brail
hale sale ail jail sail derail veil
gale tale bail mail snail entail  
kale whale fail nail tail frail  

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7. Words that have the Schwa + R sound: A SCHWA is the name of a vowel sound and of the linguistic symbol used to denote that sound. The symbol is an upside-down small printed "e" , sometimes with a colon (:) after it, and the sound it represents is a middle-of-the-mouth, nothing special one, the sound you might make as you try to think of what to say next.  In writing, this sound might be represented like this: "Uhh."  The schwa sound is very common in English words.  Here are several examples (the red letters will sound like a schwa).  Notice that the letters I, U, E, O, and EA are used to make the SCHWA sound in these words.

Words that have the sound of SCHWA + R
bird burn shirt lurk burger
dirt fur work turkey derby
flirt jury perk shirk hurry
skirt turn jerk clerk smirk
flurry murder nurse word learn

NOTE: I had to check many of these words in the dictionary to be sure they really did contain the SCHWA sound.  You can do that, also.  Somewhere in the dictionary will be a guide to  the various linguistic symbols used and what sounds they stand for, and in the body of the dictionary, after each word, you should find the symbols used to describe how each word is pronounced.

We have described an effective way to study spelling words on some of the other pages, including the  Spelling Clues page.  Use that method to study any of the words on this page that you do not already know well.  With the Word Families especially, it will be important to have someone dictate the words to you as you spell them and use them in sentences so you get used to the sounds of the words and their relationship to their spelling.

To see More Word Families, click HERE.

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