An Word Family – Words Ending in -an, From Can to Caravan

All 37 words

List 1: -an, short words (can) 9

an The zoo has an owl with orange eyes.
ban The park has a ban on glass bottles.
can Rinse the can before recycling it.
fan A small fan cooled the tent.
man The man next door fixes bicycles.
pan Butter sizzled in the frying pan.
ran The puppy ran circles around the yard.
tan He wore a tan jacket and boots.
van Our van has room for seven people.

List 2: two letters before -an (plan) 6

bran I stirred raisins into the bran cereal.
clan Her whole clan fits in one long photo.
plan Draw a plan before building the birdhouse.
scan Please scan the page for spelling errors.
span The bridge has a very long span.
than This backpack is heavier than my old one.

List 3: longer words that rhyme (began) 12

began The parade began with a drum roll.
caravan A caravan of wagons rolled across the plain.
catamaran The catamaran skimmed across the bay.
caveman The museum showed how a caveman lived.
dishpan Soak the cups in the dishpan.
dustpan Sweep the crumbs into the dustpan.
minivan Six cousins piled into the minivan.
outran The hare outran every other animal.
saucepan Warm the milk in a small saucepan.
sedan A blue sedan parked by the curb.
snowman The snowman had pebbles for buttons.
wingspan We measured the model plane's wingspan.

Show all 37 words (10 more)

List 4: spelled -an, another sound (swan, ocean) 10

cardigan He buttoned his gray cardigan up.
human The robot waved like a human.
ocean Waves from the ocean soaked our towels.
organ Deep notes rolled from the pipe organ.
orphan The orphan lamb was fed from a bottle.
pelican A pelican scooped fish near the pier.
slogan Their team slogan fit on one small banner.
swan A white swan glided across the pond.
urban She drew an urban street with tall towers.
woman A woman in a red hat waved.

How this list was compiled: Words chosen and sorted into 4 lists for Homeroom Tools. The choice, the sorting and the sentences are ours; no published list, program or workbook was opened or copied. SOUND AND SPELLING: every word was looked up on 14 October 2026 in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q= plus the word) for the sound of its ending and for a second spelling on the headword line, and each has an English entry in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/, CC BY-SA 4.0). The dictionary writes the ending of the 27 words on Lists 1 to 3 as ăn, the short a of can; for an, can and than it adds a weaker vowel used when the word is unstressed in a sentence. On List 4 it gives swan the vowel of pot and the other nine words a weak vowel (ə) in an unstressed last syllable. WORD FAMILY is used as in Wikipedia's Phonics article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics): words that share the vowel and the consonants after it. SOUND-ALIKES: none stored. LEFT OUT: pecan, toucan, divan and flan (a pronunciation with the a of father), lifespan (also life span), mailman and merman (a second pronunciation with the weak vowel). SENTENCES are ours, name no person, and none repeats a sentence in another list of this site (checked on 14 October 2026). Spellings are American. Licence: own work

How it works

Can, fan, man and van are the heart of the an word family, the words that end in -an with the short a of cat. Here are 27 of them in three lists, and ten look-alikes in a fourth.

Read the full guide

An word family list, shortest words first

List 1 has nine short words: an, ban, can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van. List 2 puts two letters in front: bran, clan, plan, scan, span, than. List 3 has longer words that keep the rhyme: dustpan, saucepan, snowman, minivan, catamaran.

Spelled -an, said another way

List 4 holds ten words that end in the letters an and do not rhyme with can. The American Heritage Dictionary gives swan the vowel of pot. In ocean, organ, human, woman and the rest the stress falls earlier and the a is the weak vowel of about.

Ran, began and outran are past forms: run, begin, outrun. The plural of man is men.
The dictionary gives an, can and than a weaker vowel when unstressed; read alone from a list, each rhymes with fan.

Questions and answers

Are these an word family worksheets for kindergarten?

Lists 1 and 2 are our pick for kindergarten and first grade: fifteen short words such as can, fan, plan and than. Each prints as a word list, a test sheet, an ABC order sheet or a missing letters sheet.

Is pecan in the an word family?

It depends on how you say it. The American Heritage Dictionary gives pecan three pronunciations, and only two end like can, so it is left off. Toucan is left off for the same reason.

Do fireman and mailman belong to the an word family?

Snowman and caveman do: the dictionary gives their last syllable the full short a of man. In fireman, postman and fisherman it gives a weak vowel, and mailman can be said either way, so those are left off.