Learn English easier with these 100 plus word lists

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By Joyanne James. When foreign speakers learn English and see the words ‘red’, ‘head’ and ‘said’ in writing, it can be very confusing. These words sound similar but their spellings don’t match.

The sounds heard in the English language are represented by numerous symbols when it comes to writing. This can make it very difficult to learn English.

In the word ‘red’, the letter -e represents the short ‘e’ sound as in ‘egg’. However, the digraphs -ea in ‘head’ and -ai in ‘said’ also make the short ‘e’ sound.

Similarly, the trigraphs -ear in ‘hear’, and -air in ‘pair’ sound like short ‘e’. Then, there are those sounds that are represented by four letters like -ough in ‘dough’, ‘thought’ and ‘through’, and -augh in ‘caught’, ‘naught’ and ‘daughter’.

To learn English easily, you should learn English words in groups with similar endings. These endings are called rimes which start with either ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ or ‘u’. In the word ‘cat’, the rime is -at. You can use our word lists to learn English words that have similar rimes.

Learn English with these word lists

Use this list to make flashcards, posters, play rhyming games, and write poems. Each heading is a guide for the words in the list that have similar letters which may or may not sound the same. Visit studyzoneinstitute.com for more helpful resources to learn English easier.

-aid

afraid, aid, raid, said, paid, maid, laid, braid

-ail

ail, rail, mail, fail, pail, nail, sail, tail, jail, snail, frail, avail, trail, detail, daily, tailor, sailor

-aim

aim, claim, proclaim

-ain

vain, pain, chain, curtain, stain, drain, sprain, strain, captain, domain, remain, again, obtain, contain, explain, mountain, maintain, fountain, rain, train, gain, grain, brain, complain

-air

pair, hair, hairy, fair, fairy, chair, flair, stair, repair, lair

-ais

waist, raisin, praise, daisy, raise

-ait

bait, wait, plait, await, trait, portrait, straight

-ea

area, flea, idea, pea, plea, sea, shea, tea

-ead

ahead, instead, bread, bead, dead, dread, head, knead, lead, mead, read, spread, tread

-eaf

deaf, leaf

-eak

beak, bleak, break, creak, freak, leak, peak, sneak, speak, squeak, steak, streak, teak, weak, wreak

-eal

appeal, meal, conceal, cereal, deal, heal, ideal, meal, real, reveal, seal, surreal, steal, squeal, teal, veal, zeal

-eam

team, beam, cream, dream, gleam, ream, seam, scream, steam, stream

-ean

clean, bean, ocean, dean, lean, mean, wean

-eap

leap, cheap, heap, reap

-ear

appear, bear, clear, dear, fear, gear, hear, near, pear, rear, spear, swear, tear, wear, year

-eas

ease, cease, crease, grease, lease, please, release, tease

-eat

beat, cheat, create, defeat, feat, great, heat, pleat, meat, neat, repeat, seat, sweat, threat, wheat

-eau

beau, bureau, plateau

-each

reach, beach, bleach, breach, leach, teach, peach, preach

-east

beast, breast, feast, east, least, yeast

-eave

leave, weave, greave, heave

-ee

agree, see, bee, fee, free, tee, knee, tree, three, free, glee, spree

-eed

feed, freed, greed, heed, indeed, need, seed, speed, agreed, exceed, bleed, breed, deed, weed

-eef

Beef

Reef

-eek

cheek, creek, geek, meek, leek, peek, reek, seek, week

-eel

eel, feel, kneel, peel, reel, steel, wheel

-eem

deem, seem, redeem, esteem, agreement

-een

green, keen, teen, ween, seen, been, screen, queen, between

-eep

beep, deep, creep, jeep, keep, peep, seep, sheep, sleep, steep, sweep, weep

-eer

beer, deer, peer, steer, sheer

-eet

beet, feet, fleet, greet, meet, street, sweet

-eech

speech, screech, leech

-eeze

breeze, freeze, sneeze, squeeze, wheeze

-eil

veil, unveil, ceiling, rottweiler

-ein

rein, reindeer, vein, caffeine, being, protein

-eir

heir, their, weird, weirdo

-eis

feist, feisty, heist, leisure

-eit

albeit, either, neither, conceit, deceit, receipt

-eigh

eight, eighteen, eighty, weigh, weight, overweight, neigh, neighbour, height, freight, sleigh

-eign

reign, foreign, feign, sovereign

-c-eive

conceive, receive, deceive, perceive

-ey

they, obey, whey, grey, prey, survey, hey, convey

-k-ey

key, donkey, monkey, turkey, turnkey, whiskey, jockey, hockey

-l-ey

trolley, alley, volley, valley, pulley, barley, parsley

-n-ey

money, honey, kidney, chutney, chimney, cockney, journey

-s-ey

jersey, horsey, Malmsey, odyssey

-ie

die, lie, tie, pie, calorie, cookie, movie, beanie, hippie, junkie, genie, siege, shriek, eerie, smoothie

auntie, cutie, foodie, hoodie, bootie, baddie, goalie, birdie, weenie, bookie, hottie, veggie, softie, oldie, dearie, techie, doggie

-ied

cried, fried, tried, died, lied, spied, shied, studied, varied, married, applied

-ief

grief, brief, chief, kerchief, mischief, thief, relief, belief

-ien

science, ambience, hygiene, client, conscience, ancient, deficient, deficiency, efficient, sufficient

friend, fiend, alien, patient, patience, obedient, nutrient, ambient, audience, client

–ier

tier, pier, plier, pierce, flier, fiery, fierce, glacier, courier, barrier, soldier, carrier, premier, pacifier

-ies

cries, dies, flies, fiesta, kiddies, fries, lies, pies, patties, cookies, skies, ties, spies, priest, diesel, series, species, rabies

-iet

diet, quiet, anxiety, society, variety

-iew

preview, review, interview, viewpoint

-iece

niece, piece, masterpiece, centrepiece, earpiece, showpiece, headpiece, timepiece

-ield

field, shield, yield, wield

-ieve

achieve, believe, grieve, relieve, retrieve, sieve

-oa

cocoa, boa, moa, Koa, koala, koa

-oad

broad, download, overload, load, truckload, road, roadblock, toad

-oaf

oaf, loaf, meatloaf

-oak

oak, cloak, croak, soak, hoax, coax

-oal

coal, goal, foal, charcoal

-oam

roam, foam

-oan

moan, groan, loan

-oap

soap, soapy, handsoap

-oar

oar, boar, roar, board, hoard, soar, whiteboard, keyboard, motherboard, cupboard, cardboard, overboard, billboard

-oas

boast, coast, coastline, roast, toast, oasis

-oat

oat, boat, lifeboat, speedboat, bloat, coat, raincoat, waistcoat, goat, gloat, float, throat, afloat, loath, loathe

-oach

approach, broach, coach, poach, roach

-oo

too, woo, zoo, igloo

-ood

blood, good, wood, hood, stood, food, flood, mood

-oof

goof, hoof, poof, proof, roof, spoof, woof

-oog

boogie, scrooge, stooge, googly

-ook

book, cook, crook, hook, jook, look, nook, took, shook, spook, cookie

-ool

cool, drool, fool, pool, school, spool, stool, tool, wool

-oom

boom, broom, bloom, doom, gloom, groom, loom, room, zoom

-oon

moon, noon, soon, spoon, toon, saloon, maroon, balloon

-oop

coop, poop, droop, hoop, loop, scoop, stoop, snoop, swoop, whoop, troop, blooper

-oor

door, floor, poor, moor

-oos

choose, goose, loose, moose, noose, boost, swoosh

-oot

boot, foot, loot, moot, root, soot, scoot, shoot, toot

-ooth

tooth, booth

-ooze

ooze, booze, snooze

-oozy

doozy, woozy

-oodle

poodle, doodle, noodle, toodles

-ou

found, mouse, our, house, proud, bounce, around, about, pound, flour, ground, out, shout, mouth, count, pout, south, doubt, cloud, bound, sour, loud, announce, mountain, louse, doused, lounge

you, soup, wound, group, cougar, coupon, youth, route, routine, bouquet, souvenir, boutique, acoustic

couple, country, courage, encourage, young, limousine

-our

four, pour, tour, mourn, courtesy, court

British English – rumour, humour, tumour, honour, labour, colour, flavour, armour, savour, vapour, neighbour, behaviour

-ous

dangerous, jealous, gorgeous, numerous, generous, famous, humongous, fabulous, joyous

pompous, nervous, wondrous, enormous, righteous, courteous, poisonous

-ious

delicious, obvious, ambitious, precious, vicious, ferocious, gracious, spacious, glorious, cautious, notorious

-ough

though, dough, although, borough, doughnut, thorough

thought, bought, brought, ought, fought, sought, wrought

tough, rough, cough, enough

through, throughout

plough

lough

-ould

could, would, should

-ouch

touch, couch, slouch, pouch, vouch, grouch, ouch

-ouble

double, trouble

-oulder

shoulder, boulder, moulder

-ow

bow, now, elbow, wow, how, cow, vow, chow, owe, tow, know, show, snow, sow

-owl

owl, bowl, fowl, growl, howl, prowl, scowl

-own

brown, crown, down, drown, gown, grown, own, disown, town, uptown, thrown, known, clown, flown, mown, frown, renown, shown

-ows

browse, drowsy, frowsy, grows, flows, knows, glows

-d-ow

window, shadow, meadow

-l-ow

low, glow, below, flow, blow, slow

-r-ow

row, brow, crowd, throw, grow, crow

-all-ow

allow, swallow, shallow

-arr-ow

arrow, barrow, sparrow, narrow

-ell-ow

bellow, fellow, mellow, yellow

-ill-ow

pillow, willow

-oll-ow

follow, hollow

-orr-ow

sorrow, borrow

-ow-el

vowel, bowel, towel, trowel

-ow-er

flower, blower, power, tower, shower, powder, mower

_______________________________

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