Et Word Family – Words Ending in -et, From Pet to Forget

All 45 words

List 1: -et, three letters (pet) 11

bet I bet the blue marble rolls farthest.
get Can you get the stapler from my desk?
jet A jet left a white trail overhead.
let Please let your little brother choose first.
met We met our new neighbors on Sunday.
net The goalie pulled the ball from the net.
pet A pet tortoise can nap for hours.
set Help me set the table for six.
vet The vet checked the kitten's ears.
wet Hang the wet towels on the railing.
yet Nobody has opened the mystery box yet.

List 2: longer words that rhyme (forget) 12

cadet A cadet raised the flag at sunrise.
castanet A castanet clicked in time with the guitar.
clarinet She practices her clarinet after supper.
duet Two flutes played a duet during the assembly.
forget I always forget where I left my mittens.
fret Do not fret about one small mistake.
hairnet Every cook in the kitchen wears a hairnet.
headset The pilot spoke into her headset.
regret You will not regret bringing an umbrella.
reset We had to reset the scoreboard at halftime.
sunset Bats flew out of the barn at sunset.
upset He felt upset when his tower fell.

Show all 45 words (22 more)

List 3: spelled -et, said with short i (rocket) 12

basket Apples filled the basket to the brim.
blanket A wool blanket hung over the porch swing.
bucket The bucket leaked all over the porch.
helmet Buckle your helmet before you ride.
jacket Zip your jacket before going outside.
magnet A magnet held my drawing on the fridge.
planet Which planet did you draw first?
pocket A marble rattled in my coat pocket.
puppet The sock puppet has two button eyes.
rocket The model rocket shot above the trees.
ticket Hand your ticket to the bus driver.
trumpet A trumpet blared from the music room.

List 4: -et with a silent t (ballet) 10

ballet My sister takes ballet on Saturday mornings.
beret She tilted her green beret to one side.
bouquet He tied the bouquet with yellow ribbon.
chalet Skiers warmed up inside the wooden chalet.
crochet I can crochet one square every evening.
croquet We played croquet on the back lawn.
duvet A thick duvet kept the bed warm.
gourmet A gourmet enjoys trying new foods.
ricochet We heard the ball ricochet off the wall.
sachet She sewed a small sachet of dried mint.

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 23 words on Lists 1 and 2 as ĕt, the short e of pet. On List 3 it writes the ending ĭt, with the stress on the first syllable; on List 4 every word ends in ā with no t sounded, and the dictionary derives each of the ten from French. 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. Whet can sound like wet; the dictionary also gives it a pronunciation with hw, and it is left out. LEFT OUT: alphabet, inlet and outlet (a second pronunciation ending like it), quartet and quintet (also quartette, quintette), internet (also Internet), mindset (also mind-set), buffet, valet, sorbet and filet (two pronunciations or two spellings). 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

Bet, jet, net and wet belong to the et word family: they end in -et and rhyme with pet. Two lists here hold 23 such words, and two more hold words spelled with -et that say something else.

Read the full guide

Et word family spelling lists

List 1 is the eleven three-letter words, bet to yet. List 2 goes on to longer words with the same rhyme: fret, forget, upset, sunset, cadet, clarinet.

Spelled -et, but outside the family

In rocket, jacket and the other words of List 3 the stress falls on the first syllable, and the American Heritage Dictionary writes the ending with short i: rocket ends like it. List 4 holds beret, bouquet, croquet and seven more words that came from French, where the t is silent and the ending sounds like day.

Let, set, upset and reset stay the same in the past: yesterday I set the table. Met is the past of meet.

Questions and answers

Which list makes an et word family kindergarten worksheet?

List 1 is our pick: bet, get, jet, let, met, net, pet, set, vet, wet and yet. It prints as a word list, a test sheet, an ABC order sheet or a missing letters sheet.

Why does ballet not rhyme with pet?

Ballet came into English from French and kept its French ending: the t is not sounded and the word ends in long a. Chalet, duvet, gourmet and sachet work the same way.

Is alphabet in the et word family?

Partly. The American Heritage Dictionary gives alphabet two pronunciations, one ending like bet and one ending like bit, so it is left off these lists. Quartet is left off because it can also be spelled quartette.