The it word family: -it words list
Bit, 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.
It family words list (25 words)
Tap a word to hear it.
CVC -it words
-it words with blends and special starts
Longer words ending in -it
It 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.
It 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 it word family?
The it word family is the group of words that end in the rime -it, the short i sound followed by t, as in bit, fit, kit, pit and sit. Children read them by blending the first sound onto -it: s + it, sit. The family also includes words that start with blends or special letter pairs, such as grit, knit, quit and split, and longer words such as rabbit, visit, habit and orbit.
- The rime -it is short i /i/ followed by /t/, as in sit.
- It is one of the most common words in English, so the rime is familiar early.
- In quit the letters qu make the sound /kw/; in knit the k is silent.
- Adding a silent e makes a long i word: kit becomes kite and bit becomes bite.
About it family words
The -it rime is short i followed by a crisp /t/. It is short and quick, so encourage your child to say the vowel clearly rather than swallowing it: s-iii-t. Because it is such a common word, many children can already read the rime, which makes this a good family to teach alongside or soon after -ig.
The second group mixes blends with two unusual starts. Grit, skit, flit and split begin with sounds that are all heard, and split begins with three. Quit uses qu, which almost always says /kw/ in English, and knit has a silent k. These two are worth introducing on purpose, with the tricky part underlined, rather than letting your child stumble over them.
In the longer words, -it usually comes at the end of an unstressed syllable. Rabbit, habit, visit and limit all have the stress on the first syllable, and the -it at the end is said lightly. Compound words such as outfit, sunlit and cockpit keep a clearer -it because each part is a small word. Reading the syllables separately first makes all of them manageable.
It family words in sentences
Decodable sentences: every word can be sounded out with the patterns on this page, plus a few very common words.
- Sit on the mat a bit.
- The kit is a good fit.
- A rabbit hid in the pit.
- Mom can knit a red hat.
- Do not quit the skit!
- We visit the sunlit hill.
- Split the fig in six bits.
- The exit is in the cockpit.
Common mix-ups with it family words
-it and -et (sit and set)
Short i and short e are easy to mix, in reading and in spelling. Read pairs slowly, sit/set, bit/bet, pit/pet, and ask your child to say which vowel they heard before writing the word.
Kit and kite
A silent e makes the i say its name. Write kit, then add an e on a sticky note: kite. Read both, take the e away, read again. Bit/bite and sit/site work the same way.
Reading the word backwards (tip for pit)
Some beginners read the letters in the wrong order, so pit becomes tip. Run a finger under the word from left to right while blending, and say the sounds in that order every time.
It family words activities
Sit and stand
Read a list of mixed -it and -et words aloud. Your child sits down for every -it word and stands up for every -et word. It trains the ear to hear the vowel before reading it.
Kit to kite
Give your child a paper kite shape. On one side write kit, bit and sit; on the other, kite, bite and site. They read one side, flip, read the other, and explain what the e did.
Build with bits
Use building bricks with letters written on them. Your child builds -it words by clicking a first-sound brick onto an -it brick, then pulls it off and swaps it for another.
Syllable clap
For the longer words, your child claps each syllable while saying it, rab-bit, vis-it, or-bit, then writes the word in two colors, one per syllable.
It family words: frequently asked questions
What words are in the it word family?
The three-letter ones include bit, fit, kit, lit, pit, sit and wit. Longer one-syllable words are grit, knit, quit, skit, split and flit, and two-syllable words include rabbit, habit, visit, limit and orbit.
Is 'it' a sight word?
It is on most high-frequency lists, but it is fully decodable: /i/ /t/. Showing children that it belongs to the same family as sit and bit helps them see it as a pattern, not a shape to memorize.
Why is knit spelled with a k?
The k was pronounced in older English and stopped being said centuries ago, but the spelling stayed. Kn is usually taught as a silent letter pair, along with know and knee.
Is biscuit in the it family?
Biscuit ends with the same sound, but it is spelled -uit, not -it. It is best left out of early -it lists so the spelling stays consistent.
Practise next
- In family wordsBin, fin, pin, tin and win all end in -in, and so does in itself. Hear every word, from chin and spin to pumpkin and violin, then play the game.
- Ip family wordsDip, 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.
- Et family wordsJet, net, pet, vet and wet all end in -et, the first short e family most children learn. Hear every word, from sunset to rocket, 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.