Word family
The -ing word family
The answer
The -ing word family is every one-syllable word that ends in the rime ing, said /ing/. Our lexicon has 15 public words in it: 5 with one consonant first, 8 with a blend and 2 with a digraph or silent-letter pair.
What is in this family?
The ing family is a welded sound: the i before ng is not a clean short i, and many programs teach ing as one chunk. Our list keeps one-syllable base words only (king, ring, sing, thing, spring, string), not words with the -ing suffix, so this is a word family and not a suffix list. Three-sound onsets (spring, string) make it a step up for students who blend well.
The words, sorted by what comes before the rime
One consonant before the rime
| Word | Onset + rime | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| king | k + ing | Lesson 51 |
| ring | r + ing | Lesson 51 |
| sing | s + ing | Lesson 51 |
| wing | w + ing | Lesson 51 |
| ting | t + ing | Lesson 51 |
A blend before the rime
| Word | Onset + rime | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| bring | br + ing | Lesson 51 |
| spring | spr + ing | Lesson 51 |
| string | str + ing | Lesson 51 |
| swing | sw + ing | Lesson 51 |
| cling | cl + ing | Lesson 51 |
| fling | fl + ing | Lesson 51 |
| sling | sl + ing | Lesson 51 |
| sting | st + ing | Lesson 51 |
A digraph or silent-letter pair before the rime
| Word | Onset + rime | Readable after |
|---|---|---|
| thing | th + ing | Lesson 51 |
| wring | wr + ing | Lesson 98 |
Word ladder: change one sound at a time
Every step is a real word from the list, and each one changes exactly one sound. Say the change aloud before the student writes the new word.
| Step | Word | The change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | king | start here |
| 2 | ring | change /k/ to /r/ |
| 3 | bring | add /b/ |
| 4 | wring | take away /b/ |
| 5 | thing | change /r/ to /th/ |
| 6 | sing | change /th/ to /s/ |
| 7 | wing | change /s/ to /w/ |
| 8 | swing | add /s/ |
| 9 | sling | change /w/ to /l/ |
| 10 | cling | change /s/ to /k/ |
How do you teach it?
Teach ing as a unit after students know ng. Build with single consonants (king, ring, sing, wing), then digraphs (thing), then blends (bring, cling, sling, sting, swing) and three-sound blends (spring, string).
"The chunk is i-n-g, /ing/. Add /k/: king. Add /s/ and /t/: sting. Add /r/ after the /t/: string. How many sounds come before the chunk in string? Three."
What is the common error, and the fix?
Students write "kin" or "singg", hearing /n/ or an extra /g/. The fix is the unit: /ing/ is spelled i-n-g, and the ng is one sound.
Sort it: a hands-on activity
Mix ing cards with ank and ung cards. Students sort by chunk, read each pile and notice which chunk gives them the most words.
How this list was built
Every word comes from our lexicon of about 19,000 common words, each checked against a pronouncing dictionary and split into spelling units. Words a student meets in our assessments and progress-monitoring probes are left out, so practicing a list never rehearses a test. A family is every one-syllable base word (no suffix, not a compound) whose rime, the vowel unit and every unit after it, has the same spelling and the same sounds, so bead and bread are in different families. Ladders use only words from the list, and each step changes exactly one sound.
"Readable after" is the first lesson in the lesson sequence at which our decodability engine finds every sound-spelling in the word taught; "not taught" means the word has a spelling the sequence does not cover, so it is read with help. You can check your own lists and passages with the free decodable text checker.
Questions people ask
How many words are in the -ing family?
Our lexicon has 15 one-syllable words ending in ing that a student can practice. Words used in our assessments are left out, so a few common words may be missing from the list.
Is this the same as the -ing suffix?
No. These are base words that end in the letters ing, like king and spring. The suffix -ing is added to a verb (jumping) and has its own spelling rules.
What is a word ladder?
A chain of real words where each step changes one sound: swap a sound, add one, or take one away. Students say the change before they write it, which trains them to hear every sound in the word.