Free printable word families phonics worksheets. Four practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, and rapid naming chart.
Grade: KPhase 1: FoundationsPattern: CVC word families: -at, -an, -ap
catbathatmatsatratcanmanpanranfanvan
1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding word families words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Pat's Stolen Mat
Skill: Word Families • Sight Words: the, is, a, and, to, was, it, on, his, in
Coloring page included in PDF
Pat the cat had a red mat. Pat sat on his mat for a nap.
But a fat rat ran past. The rat got the mat!
“My mat!” said Pat. He ran and ran.
The rat ran to a man with a cap. The man had a big box. The rat hid the mat in the big box.
Pat was mad. He ran at the rat. Zap! The rat ran off.
Pat got his mat. He sat on it in the sun for his nap.
Circle all the -at words in red, all the -an words in blue, and all the -ap words in green. How many of each did you find?
Cut out the word cards and sort them into the correct columns: -at Family vs -an / -ap Family.
-at Family
-an / -ap Family
cat
bat
hat
mat
sat
rat
flat
brat
can
man
pan
ran
fan
van
cap
map
nap
tap
gap
lap
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3 Phrasing Practice Cards
Practice reading these phrases for fluency. Cut out the cards and read them quickly and smoothly.
the cat on the mat
a man and a van
a cap and a map
the rat sat
ran to the fan
a nap on his lap
tap the pan
the bat and the hat
zap the gap
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4 RAN Chart (Rapid Naming)
Read each word in the grid as quickly as you can. Time yourself and try to beat your best time!
Decodable RAN Chart — Word Families
fan
cap
man
cat
cap
fan
rat
rat
man
cap
cat
fan
cat
man
rat
cat
Target words: cat, man, cap, rat, fan
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5 Word Search
Find and circle the word families words hidden in the grid. Words go across, down, and diagonally — a fun way to reinforce word families word recognition.
Word Families Word Search
C
U
H
L
I
R
V
A
N
Q
J
N
Z
A
L
C
A
W
R
G
B
T
P
R
T
A
Z
N
M
L
R
S
A
V
C
T
T
H
J
N
Q
Z
N
H
R
A
T
J
S
N
S
A
T
Z
E
A
N
G
Y
V
W
V
M
F
X
M
T
V
J
G
P
B
A
M
A
M
H
Z
Y
G
B
A
J
N
A
N
A
N
D
Q
H
T
R
G
G
N
H
T
W
V
BATCANCATFANHATMANMATPANRANRATSATVAN
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📖 Decodable Readers for Word Families
Next step: once your child can sound out these words, have them read a matching decodable mini-book. Each Word Families reader is a printable story + coloring page using only sounds they've learned.
Word families, specifically CVC patterns like -at, -an, and -ap, are foundational for early readers, typically introduced after students grasp individual letter sounds. This phase helps children see recurring patterns in words, moving beyond sounding out each letter in isolation. The trickiest part for young learners often lies in differentiating the subtle vowel sounds, especially between /a/ in "cat" and /a/ in "can" when spoken quickly, or the final consonant sounds if they are not articulated clearly. For instance, "mat" and "nap" both begin with /m/ and /n/ respectively, but the ending sounds /t/ and /p/ can be easily confused if not emphasized. Students might also struggle with segmenting the onset from the rime, blending "c-at" rather than recognizing the "-at" chunk instantly.
To maximize the impact of these worksheets, encourage active engagement. Before reading "Pat's Stolen Mat," introduce the word families using the phrasing cards, focusing on the consistent ending sound in words like "tap" and "lap." Utilize the word sort activity to help children physically categorize words by their rime, reinforcing the visual pattern of -at, -an, and -ap. When reading the decodable passage, guide students to highlight or underline the target word family words, practicing smooth blending rather than choppy letter-by-letter sounding. Finally, the RAN chart (Rapid Automatic Naming) is excellent for building fluency; time how quickly they can identify and say the words from each family, like "cat, bat, hat" or "pan, ran, fan," to build automaticity and confidence.
