Word family

Long u and long oo word families

The answer

Long u and oo word families are groups of one-syllable words that share a rime with the vowel in cute or moon, like -oon, -ool, -ew and -ue. Our lexicon has 115 public words in 17 such families of three or more words, listed family by family.

What do these families share?

This group holds two closely related vowels: the long u in cute and mule, and the /oo/ in moon and blue. Dictionaries keep them apart, so our tables do too: ew in few is listed separately from ew in crew. The big families are spelled oo (oop, oot, ool, oom, oon), ew and ue. Many students hear little difference between the two after r, l and j, so don't fuss over the distinction.

The families and their words

The -ew family, as in new

18 words

The -ew family, as in new
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
new	n + ew	Lesson 91
drew	dr + ew	Lesson 91
flew	fl + ew	Lesson 91
grew	gr + ew	Lesson 91
knew	kn + ew	Lesson 98
view	vi + ew	not taught
threw	thr + ew	Lesson 91
blew	bl + ew	Lesson 91
chew	ch + ew	Lesson 91
crew	cr + ew	Lesson 91
screw	scr + ew	Lesson 91
dew	d + ew	Lesson 91
yew	y + ew	Lesson 91
brew	br + ew	Lesson 91
slew	sl + ew	Lesson 91
stew	st + ew	Lesson 91
whew	wh + ew	Lesson 91
strew	str + ew	Lesson 91

The -oop family, as in loop

10 words

The -oop family, as in loop
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
loop	l + oop	Lesson 90
troop	tr + oop	Lesson 90
whoop	wh + oop	Lesson 90
coop	c + oop	Lesson 90
hoop	h + oop	Lesson 90
droop	dr + oop	Lesson 90
scoop	sc + oop	Lesson 90
snoop	sn + oop	Lesson 90
stoop	st + oop	Lesson 90
swoop	sw + oop	Lesson 90

The -oom family, as in room

9 words

The -oom family, as in room
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
room	r + oom	Lesson 90
boom	b + oom	Lesson 90
doom	d + oom	Lesson 90
zoom	z + oom	Lesson 90
loom	l + oom	Lesson 90
bloom	bl + oom	Lesson 90
broom	br + oom	Lesson 90
gloom	gl + oom	Lesson 90
groom	gr + oom	Lesson 90

The -oon family, as in soon

9 words

The -oon family, as in soon
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
soon	s + oon	Lesson 90
moon	m + oon	Lesson 90
noon	n + oon	Lesson 90
boon	b + oon	Lesson 90
goon	g + oon	Lesson 90
loon	l + oon	Lesson 90
croon	cr + oon	Lesson 90
spoon	sp + oon	Lesson 90
swoon	sw + oon	Lesson 90

The -ue family, as in due

8 words

The -ue family, as in due
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
due	d + ue	Lesson 91
blue	bl + ue	Lesson 91
clue	cl + ue	Lesson 91
true	tr + ue	Lesson 91
sue	s + ue	Lesson 91
glue	gl + ue	Lesson 91
rue	r + ue	Lesson 91
flue	fl + ue	Lesson 91

The -oo family, as in too

8 words

The -oo family, as in too
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
too	t + oo	Lesson 90
boo	b + oo	Lesson 90
coo	c + oo	Lesson 90
goo	g + oo	Lesson 90
moo	m + oo	Lesson 90
woo	w + oo	Lesson 90
zoo	z + oo	Lesson 90
shoo	sh + oo	Lesson 90

The -oot family, as in boot

8 words

The -oot family, as in boot
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
boot	b + oot	Lesson 90
root	r + oot	Lesson 90
shoot	sh + oot	Lesson 90
hoot	h + oot	Lesson 90
loot	l + oot	Lesson 90
moot	m + oot	Lesson 90
toot	t + oot	Lesson 90
scoot	sc + oot	Lesson 90

The -ool family, as in pool

8 words

The -ool family, as in pool
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
pool	p + ool	Lesson 90
school	sch + ool	Lesson 118
cool	c + ool	Lesson 90
fool	f + ool	Lesson 90
tool	t + ool	Lesson 90
spool	sp + ool	Lesson 90
drool	dr + ool	Lesson 90
stool	st + ool	Lesson 90

The -ew family, as in few

6 words

The -ew family, as in few
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
few	f + ew	Lesson 115
hew	h + ew	Lesson 115
mew	m + ew	Lesson 115
pew	p + ew	Lesson 115
skew	sk + ew	Lesson 115
spew	sp + ew	Lesson 115

The -oof family, as in proof

6 words

The -oof family, as in proof
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
proof	pr + oof	Lesson 90
roof	r + oof	Lesson 90
spoof	sp + oof	Lesson 90
goof	g + oof	Lesson 90
hoof	h + oof	Lesson 90
woof	w + oof	Lesson 90

The -ute family, as in flute

5 words

The -ute family, as in flute
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
flute	fl + ute	Lesson 58
jute	j + ute	Lesson 58
lute	l + ute	Lesson 58
brute	br + ute	Lesson 58
chute	ch + ute	Lesson 118

The -une family, as in tune

4 words

The -une family, as in tune
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
tune	t + une	Lesson 58
dune	d + une	Lesson 58
rune	r + une	Lesson 58
prune	pr + une	Lesson 58

The -ude family, as in rude

4 words

The -ude family, as in rude
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
rude	r + ude	Lesson 58
crude	cr + ude	Lesson 58
dude	d + ude	Lesson 58
prude	pr + ude	Lesson 58

The -o family, as in do

3 words

The -o family, as in do
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
do	d + o	Lesson 13 (heart word)
two	tw + o	Lesson 22 (heart word)
who	wh + o	Lesson 28 (heart word)

The -ood family, as in food

3 words

The -ood family, as in food
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
food	f + ood	Lesson 90
mood	m + ood	Lesson 90
brood	br + ood	Lesson 90

The -oose family, as in loose

3 words

The -oose family, as in loose
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
loose	l + oose	Lesson 90
goose	g + oose	Lesson 90
moose	m + oose	Lesson 90

The -u family, as in mu

3 words

The -u family, as in mu
Word	Onset + rime	Readable after
mu	m + u	Lesson 68
flu	fl + u	Lesson 68
gnu	gn + u	Lesson 118

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.

Word ladder for Long u and oo families
Step	Word	The change
1	do	start here
2	doom	add /m/
3	due	take away /m/
4	dude	add /d/
5	dew	take away /d/
6	dune	add /n/
7	soon	change /d/ to /s/
8	sue	take away /n/
9	new	change /s/ to /n/
10	noon	add /n/

How do you teach it?

Teach oo first, since it has the biggest families. Then ew and ue as end-of-word spellings (crew, blue), and u with silent e (tune, flute) last.

"Blue, b-l-u-e, is a color. Blew, b-l-e-w, is what the wind did. Same sound, two families. Which one goes in 'The wind blew hard'?"

What is the common error, and the fix?

Students read the oo in moon with the short sound from book, or the other way round. Spellers write "blew" for blue. The fix for reading is to try both sounds and pick the real word; the fix for spelling homophones is meaning.

Sort it: a hands-on activity

Sort long u cards by spelling: oo, ew, ue and u_e. Then find the homophones across piles (blue and blew) and read them in sentences.

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 long u and oo word families are there?

In our lexicon, 17 rimes with the vowel in cute or moon have at least three public one-syllable words, 115 words in all. Smaller families exist, but two words are not enough to practice a pattern.

Is the vowel in moon the same as in cute?

Almost. Cute has a /y/ glide before the vowel (/kyoot/) and moon does not. Many programs teach both as long u; our tables keep them apart so the rhymes are exact.

Why teach word families at all?

Families let a student read many words from one chunk, which builds speed and confidence. They work best alongside sound-by-sound blending, so a student can still read a word when no family fits.