The ip word family: -ip words list
Dip, hip, lip, sip, tip and zip all end in -ip, and so do ship, trip and spaceship. It is one of the biggest short i families. Hear the words and play the game.
Ip family words list (25 words)
Tap a word to hear it.
CVC -ip words
-ip words with blends and digraphs
Longer words ending in -ip
Ip family words game: listen and find
Hear a word from the list and pick it from four look-alike words. Eight rounds, about two minutes.
Ip family words spelling game: build the word
Hear a word and build it from letter tiles, one sound at a time. Letter pairs like sh or ck come as one tile, because they spell one sound. Six rounds.
Short answer
What is the ip word family?
The ip word family is the group of words that end in the rime -ip, the short i sound followed by p, as in dip, lip, sip, tip and zip. Children read them by blending the first sound onto -ip: z + ip, zip. The family is unusually large, with many blend and digraph words such as ship, chip, clip, drip, flip, skip and trip, and longer words such as tulip, turnip and spaceship.
- The rime -ip is short i /i/ followed by /p/, as in zip.
- Common three-letter -ip words: dip, hip, lip, nip, rip, sip, tip and zip.
- -ip has more one-syllable blend and digraph words than most short vowel families.
- A silent e turns some -ip words into long i words: rip becomes ripe and strip becomes stripe.
About ip family words
The -ip rime is short i followed by /p/, which is made by closing the lips. Since p stops the sound, children sometimes add an extra uh at the end, zip-uh. Model a clean ending: close your lips and let out only a small puff of air. Holding a tissue in front of the mouth shows the puff moving.
What makes this family special is the second group. Ten one-syllable words start with a blend or digraph, more than in most families, so -ip is a great place to practise two-letter starts once the CVC words are easy. Chip and ship start with digraphs, two letters for one sound; clip, drip, flip, grip, skip, slip, snip and trip start with two sounds that are both heard.
The longer words fall into two kinds. Spaceship, friendship and fingertip are compound words, so the -ip keeps its full sound. In tulip, turnip and parsnip the -ip is in a light, unstressed syllable, and in everyday speech it can sound a little softer. Children can read the spelling as -ip and then say the word as they normally would.
Ip family words in sentences
Decodable sentences: every word can be sounded out with the patterns on this page, plus a few very common words.
- Sip it and dip the chip.
- The ship is on a trip.
- Zip up and skip to the hill.
- Clip the tulip in the pot.
- Do not slip on the drip!
- The cat can sniff the catnip.
- A turnip sat in the dish.
- Flip it with a fingertip.
Common mix-ups with ip family words
-ip and -ap (tip and tap)
Changing only the vowel gives tip/tap, lip/lap and zip/zap. These pairs are good practice because the vowel is the only clue. Say both and ask your child which one is -ip.
Ship and sip
If ship becomes sip, the h is being skipped. Underline sh as one unit, say its long hushing sound, and read the pair side by side: sip, ship.
Tip and pit
Tip and pit use the same three letters in a different order. Blend from left to right with a finger under each letter; the first sound is the one on the left.
Ip family words activities
Flip and read
Write -ip words on one side of cards and draw a quick picture on the other. Your child reads the word, flips the card to check the picture, and keeps the card if they read it right.
Paper clip chain
Write -ip words on small cards. Each time your child reads one, they add a paper clip to a chain. At the end, count the clips and reread the words that took longest.
Blend builder
Lay out -ip in magnetic letters. Your child adds one letter in front to make lip or rip, then adds a second to turn it into slip, clip, drip or trip, and reads each change aloud.
Skip and say
Put -ip word cards on the floor in a line. Your child skips from card to card, reading each word as they land. Add a card with a -ap word to catch vowel guessing.
Ip family words: frequently asked questions
What words are in the ip word family?
Dip, hip, lip, nip, rip, sip, tip and zip are the three-letter ones. With blends and digraphs you get chip, ship, clip, drip, flip, grip, skip, slip, snip and trip, and longer words include tulip, turnip and spaceship.
Why is the ip family good for teaching blends?
It has more one-syllable blend words than most families, so a child can practise cl, dr, fl, gr, sk, sl, sn and tr without changing the rest of the word.
Is ship a CVC word?
Ship has three sounds but four letters, because sh is one sound. It is usually called a digraph word and taught after simple CVC words.
What family goes well with -ip?
The -ap family is a natural partner: tip/tap, lip/lap and zip/zap differ only by the vowel, which makes mixed practice a good check on vowel reading.
Practise next
- It family wordsBit, fit, kit, pit and sit all end in -it. Listen to each word, from the three-letter ones to split, rabbit and orbit, read the sentences, and play the game.
- Ap family wordsCap, map, nap and tap all end in -ap. The family is large, so it is great for practice once -at feels easy. Hear the words, read the sentences and play the game.
- Op family wordsHop, mop, pop and top are the first -op words, and stop, shop and lollipop follow. Hear every word in the family, read the sentences and play the game.
- Short i wordsShort i is the sound in pig, sit and lip. After short a, it is usually the next vowel children learn to blend. Tap any word to hear it, read the sentences, and try the game below.