Ee Word Family – Words Ending in -ee, From Bee to Referee

All 64 words

List 1: one letter before -ee (bee) 5

bee A sleepy bee rested on the garden gate.
fee The museum charges a small entry fee.
lee The tent stood in the lee of a dune.
see I can see my breath on frosty mornings.
tee A wooden tee held the ball above the grass.

List 2: two or three letters before -ee (tree) 9

flee Minnows flee when a shadow crosses the pond.
free The library lends puzzles free of charge.
glee The toddlers shrieked with glee at the bubbles.
knee He patched the knee of his favorite jeans.
scree Loose scree slid under the climbers' boots.
spree A cleaning spree left the garage spotless.
thee The old poem says I sing to thee.
three Three ducklings followed their mother across the path.
tree An old tree shaded the whole sandbox.

List 3: longer words, stress on -ee (agree) 11

agree We all agree that recess is too short.
decree The queen's decree banned homework on holidays.
degree The temperature dropped one degree every hour.
disagree The twins disagree about which movie to watch.
foresee Nobody could foresee the sudden snowstorm.
goatee The actor glued on a fake goatee.
guarantee The umbrella carries a lifetime guarantee.
jamboree Scouts pitched tents for the summer jamboree.
marquee The theater marquee lit up the whole block.
oversee Two lifeguards oversee the shallow pool.
settee Two cats shared the velvet settee.

Show all 64 words (39 more)

List 4: longer words, main stress earlier (bumblebee) 8

bumblebee One bumblebee wobbled out of the foxglove.
carefree We spent a carefree afternoon skipping stones.
chickadee A chickadee hopped along the icy railing.
filigree Silver filigree framed the tiny mirror.
jubilee The town held a jubilee with fireworks.
manatee The manatee drifted slowly through the warm spring.
pedigree The breeder showed us the puppy's pedigree.
sightsee Tourists sightsee from the top deck of the bus.

List 5: -ee for a person (trainee) 12

absentee One absentee missed the class photo.
attendee Every attendee wore a paper name tag.
evacuee Each evacuee received a blanket and soup.
honoree The honoree thanked her coaches from the stage.
mentee The mentor met her mentee every Tuesday.
nominee Each nominee gave a short speech.
payee Write the payee on the check's top line.
referee A referee tossed the coin before kickoff.
refugee The refugee family settled into a new town.
retiree A retiree volunteers at our school garden.
trainee The trainee shadowed the baker all week.
trustee A trustee signed the papers for the museum.

List 6: ee with a last consonant (feet) 12

deep The well is too deep to see the bottom.
feel Feel the bumpy bark with your fingertips.
feet My feet sank into the cool mud.
green Paint the shutters a dark forest green.
keep Keep your ticket until the ride ends.
need You need two eggs for the muffin batter.
queen The chess queen slid across the board.
seed Plant one seed in each paper cup.
sheep Five sheep grazed beside the stone wall.
sleep Kittens sleep in a heap on the rug.
street Our street closes for the block party.
week It rained every day last week.

List 7: ends in -ee, said quietly (coffee) 7

apogee The rocket coasted until it reached apogee.
coffee The smell of coffee drifted from the kitchen.
committee The committee chose a mascot for the school.
coulee Deer sheltered in the dry coulee.
levee Water rose halfway up the grassy levee.
squeegee Wipe the window with a rubber squeegee.
toffee She wrapped each piece of toffee in foil.

How this list was compiled: Words chosen and sorted into 7 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 all 45 words on Lists 1 to 5 as ē, long e: the main stress is on it in Lists 3 and 5 (agree, trainee), and a secondary stress mark stands on it in List 4 (bumblebee), where jubilee is also said with the main stress last. On List 6 a consonant follows the ee (feet), so those twelve words belong to other families. On List 7 the dictionary writes the last syllable ē with no stress mark (coffee, kô-fē), so those seven words do not fully rhyme with bee; that a rhyme needs the same stressed vowel is from Wikipedia's Perfect and imperfect rhymes article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_and_imperfect_rhymes). THE ENDING -EE: the dictionary's first entry for -ee gives one that receives or benefits from a specified action and one that performs a specified action (absentee); its second gives one resembling, with goatee. The meanings of trainee, payee and absentee, the word histories of goatee, chickadee and manatee, and the pronunciations of toupee, puree, entree, matinee, soiree, meet, me, he, she, we, key and ski are from the same dictionary's entries. A WORD FAMILY here is a set of words that share a rime, which Wikipedia's Phonics article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonics) gives as the vowel and the consonant sounds that follow it. SOUND-ALIKES: bee (be), see (sea), tee (tea), flee (flea), feet (feat), seed (cede), need (knead, kneed), week (weak) and levee (levy): the dictionary gives the words of each pair one pronunciation (levee as the river bank), and Wiktionary's page for the list word names the other as a homophone in every case. Lee with lea and knee with nee are not stored: the dictionary gives lea a second pronunciation and nee long a. LEFT OUT: honeybee (or honey bee), tepee (also teepee or tipi), banshee (also banshie), employee, chimpanzee and rupee (each also said with the stress earlier), devotee (also said with long a at the end), whee (also said with hw), and a few words by our choice for a list young children use. 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

Bee, tree and agree end in two e's and one sound, long e. So do all 45 words on the first five lists, as far as referee and bumblebee.

Read the full guide

Ee word family words in seven lists

List 1: bee, fee, see, tee, lee. Two or three letters stand in front on List 2: free, tree, three, knee, flee, glee, spree, thee, scree. Lists 3 and 4 are longer (agree, degree, bumblebee, chickadee) and List 5 names people. On List 6 a consonant follows ee: feet, seed, sheep, green. List 7 ends in a quiet -ee: coffee, toffee, committee.

Trainee, payee, referee: -ee for a person

The American Heritage Dictionary gives -ee as an ending for one who receives an action or carries one out: a trainee is being trained, a payee is paid, an absentee is absent. A second -ee means one resembling, and its example is goatee, a beard like a goat's.

Be, sea, tea and flea sound like bee, see, tee and flee. In a test, the sentence read after the word tells which to write.
Me, he, she and we rhyme with bee on one e. Key and ski rhyme too.
The chickadee is named for its call, the dictionary says, and manatee came from Spanish manatí.

Questions and answers

Does every word that ends in ee say long e?

No. The American Heritage Dictionary writes the end of toupee as (pā), with long a. Puree, entree, matinee and soiree end in long a too; the dictionary also spells each with an accent mark, so they are left off these lists.

Is feet an ee word family word?

Feet has the ee spelling and the long e sound, but a t follows, so it rhymes with meet, not with bee. List 6 holds twelve words built that way.

Do coffee and bee rhyme?

Not fully. The dictionary writes coffee as (kô-fē): long e comes last, but the stressed vowel is the ô of the first syllable. List 7 holds seven words that end this way.

Can I print ee word family worksheets?

Yes. Lists 1 and 2 hold the fourteen one-syllable words, a short sheet each. Either one prints four ways: Word list, Test sheet, ABC order or Missing letters.