LumiraWhat is a word family?
Word families group words that share the same ending sound and spelling. Because only the first letter changes, they are one of the fastest ways for a beginning reader to go from decoding single sounds to reading whole words with confidence.
The -at word family — word list
Every word below appears in the decodable book on this page, so a reader who practises the list will meet the same words again in context.
- bat
- cat
- fat
- hat
- mat
- rat
- sat
Free decodable book: Decodable Short A: at, am, an
This is an original Lumira decodable reader, written so that a child can sound out nearly every word using patterns they have already been taught. The full text is below — read it here, or open it in the app to read it together with the words highlighting as you speak.
Sam sat on a mat. Pam sat on a mat. Pat sat on a mat.
The cat sat on a mat. A bat sat on a mat. A rat sat on a mat.
Sam had a hat. Pam had a hat. Pat had a hat. The cat had a hat.
Sam can tap the mat. Pam can tap the mat. Pat can tap the mat.
The fat cat sat on a mat. The fat bat sat on a hat. The fat rat sat on a mat.
Sam sat and Pat sat and Pam sat. The cat sat and the bat sat.
A cat and a bat and a rat sat on a mat. Sam and Pam and Pat sat too.
Mat hat bat rat sat pat tap cat fat. Sam can tap a mat. Pam can tap a hat.
Sam sat on a mat with ham. Pam sat on a mat with jam. Dan ran past.
The cat sat on a mat. Dan had ham and a pan. Nan ran with Pam and Sam.
How to teach it
- Say the sound on its own first, several times, before showing any letters.
- Show the spelling and name it explicitly — tell the reader what it says rather than asking them to work it out.
- Blend two or three words from the list together, out loud, slowly.
- Read the decodable book above, where the pattern repeats in real sentences.
- Come back to it two or three days later. Cumulative review is what makes it stick.
Lessons that practise this pattern
Build words: -at with stop onsets
Blend CVC words with stop consonants in the -at family
Build words: -at family
Segment and blend CVC words with continuous consonants using one sound per box
Sight word bridges
Read high-frequency words (the, and, is, to) in short decodable sentences.
Decodable sentences: -at family
Build and read short decodable sentences word by word, then read the full sentence aloud.