• 35 words

Ild Word Family

Child, mild and wild with their compounds, then build, children and smiled sorted by sound.

Edit this list or use your own words

The 7 words of this list. Add or change any. For your own list, press Clear first.

For a sentence, put it after a colon: rain: The rain fell all day. Up to 40 words.

Sheet to show and print

List 1: ends in -ild, long i (child)

Words to learn. Read each word, cover it, write it, then check it.

  1. 1.childEvery child planted a bean in a cup.
  2. 2.mildMild salsa suits the whole table.
  3. 3.wildWild geese honked above the frozen pond.
  4. 4.grandchildHer first grandchild learned to whistle.
  5. 5.stepchildHe taught his stepchild to ride a bike.
  6. 6.godchildMy aunt mailed her godchild a postcard.
  7. 7.brainchildThe treehouse was my sister's brainchild.

Made at homeroomtools.com

Make a word search

Each word is read aloud, then used in a sentence. Type what you hear. The marks come at the end.

More options
Reading speed

Accents do not count: café may be typed as cafe, and the marks show how it is written.

Only voices built into this device are used, so the words are not sent to a speech service to be read. With no voice, a person reads the words from the last page of the test sheet.

Review test from several lists
Tick the lists to draw 10 words from

The words are mixed from the lists you tick, so a review test needs a read-aloud voice.

Next step More long i before two consonants: mind, blindThe -old family: cold, gold, told

All 35 words

List 1: ends in -ild, long i (child) 7

  • brainchild The treehouse was my sister's brainchild.
  • child Every child planted a bean in a cup.
  • godchild My aunt mailed her godchild a postcard.
  • grandchild Her first grandchild learned to whistle.
  • mild Mild salsa suits the whole table.
  • stepchild He taught his stepchild to ride a bike.
  • wild Wild geese honked above the frozen pond.

List 2: -ild with more after it, long i (wildlife) 12

  • childcare The gym offers childcare during morning classes.
  • childhood Grandpa kept his childhood marble collection.
  • childish Sulking over a board game seems childish.
  • childlike The painter kept a childlike sense of wonder.
  • childproof A childproof latch guards the cleaning cupboard.
  • mildly The soup was only mildly spicy.
  • mildness We enjoyed the mildness of the spring evening.
  • wildcat A wildcat left tracks beside the creek.
  • wildfire News of the pizza party spread like wildfire.
  • wildlife The marsh shelters wildlife all year.
  • wildly The crowd cheered wildly at the buzzer.
  • wildness The wildness of the canyon amazed us.

List 3: ild said with short i (build) 10

  • bewilder The maze of hallways can bewilder visitors.
  • build Wrens build nests in our mailbox.
  • builder A builder nailed shingles onto the roof.
  • building Pigeons roost on the old brick building.
  • children Three children shared one big umbrella.
  • gild Artists gild the frame with thin gold leaf.
  • gilded A gilded rooster sits atop the weather vane.
  • mildew Mildew spotted the old tent in the shed.
  • rebuild Beavers rebuild the dam after every flood.
  • wilderness The trail leads deep into the wilderness.

List 4: rhymes with wild, spelled -iled (smiled) 6

  • compiled The class compiled a book of riddles.
  • filed The clerk filed the forms by date.
  • piled We piled the leaves beside the fence.
  • reconciled The two friends reconciled after the argument.
  • smiled The bus driver smiled at every rider.
  • tiled Workers tiled the kitchen floor in blue.

How it works

Child, mild and wild open this page, with four compounds of child beside them: grandchild, stepchild, godchild and brainchild. All seven end in -ild with long i. Three more lists sort their neighbors by sound.

Read the full guide

Ild word family words in four lists

List 1: child, mild, wild, grandchild, stepchild, godchild, brainchild. List 2 adds to them and keeps the long i: wildlife, wildly, mildness, childhood, childproof. List 3 has the short i of pin: build, rebuild, gild, gilded, building, builder, children, wilderness, bewilder, mildew. List 4 rhymes with wild in another spelling: smiled, filed, piled, tiled, compiled, reconciled.

Child and children, wild and wilderness

The American Heritage Dictionary writes child (chīld) with long i and its plural children (chĭl-drən) with short i. Wild and wilderness differ the same way. Wilderness, the dictionary says, probably comes from Old English wilddēor, wild beast: wilde, wild, and dēor, wild animal.

  • Build and gild change in the past: built, and gilded or gilt.
  • Build sounds like billed, and gild sounds like guild.
  • The dictionary traces mildew to Old English mildēaw, honeydew, and mild to Old English milde.

Questions and answers

Do build and child rhyme?

No. The American Heritage Dictionary writes build (bĭld), with the short i of pin, and child (chīld), with long i. A rhyme needs the same stressed vowel. Gild and rebuild have the short i too.

Is it guild or gild?

They are two words. To gild is to cover with a thin layer of gold; a guild is an association of people in one trade. The dictionary also allows gild as a spelling of guild, so guild is on no list here.

Does smiled rhyme with wild?

Yes. Wiktionary writes smiled as /smaɪld/, and its rhymes page for that ending lists wild, child and mild beside piled and tiled. The spelling keeps the e of smile, as filed and compiled keep theirs.

Can I print ild word family worksheets?

Yes. With List 1 open (seven words, child to brainchild), the page prints a Word list, a Test sheet, an ABC order sheet or a Missing letters sheet. Lists 2 to 4 do the same.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Flashcards