Ock Word Family

Rock, sock, clock and knock, then padlock and shamrock, with hammock kept apart: the -ock words in six lists.

Edit this list or use your own words

The 5 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: one letter before -ock (rock)

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

  1. 1.dockGulls lined the dock beside the ferry.
  2. 2.lockThe bike lock clicked shut around the rail.
  3. 3.mockParrots mock the doorbell with a perfect chime.
  4. 4.rockA crab scuttled under the wet rock.
  5. 5.sockOne striped sock vanished inside the dryer.

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 ck endings: back, neck, sick, duckThe -ack family: pack, snack, haystack

All 52 words

List 1: one letter before -ock (rock) 5

  • dock Gulls lined the dock beside the ferry.
  • lock The bike lock clicked shut around the rail.
  • mock Parrots mock the doorbell with a perfect chime.
  • rock A crab scuttled under the wet rock.
  • sock One striped sock vanished inside the dryer.

List 2: two letters before -ock (clock) 9

  • block Balance the last block on the wobbly tower.
  • chock Wedge a chock behind the trailer wheel.
  • clock The clock above the stove lost its minute hand.
  • flock A flock of starlings swirled over the barn.
  • frock She sewed lace onto the doll's frock.
  • knock Knock twice before opening the shed door.
  • shock The icy lake gave my toes a shock.
  • smock Wear a smock when the finger paints come out.
  • stock The corner shop keeps mittens in stock all year.

List 3: longer words that end in -lock (padlock) 11

  • deadlock The checkers match ended in a deadlock.
  • fetlock Mud covered the horse up to each fetlock.
  • forelock The pony shook its shaggy forelock.
  • gridlock Buses crawled through gridlock near the stadium.
  • hemlock Snow bent the branches of the tall hemlock.
  • interlock The foam puzzle mats interlock along their edges.
  • oarlock The left oar slipped out of its oarlock.
  • padlock A rusty padlock held the garden gate shut.
  • roadblock A fallen pine made a roadblock on our street.
  • unblock Rake the leaves to unblock the storm drain.
  • unlock Use the brass key to unlock the trunk.
Show all 52 words (27 more)

List 4: other long words that end in -ock (shamrock) 9

  • aftershock A small aftershock rattled the teacups.
  • bedrock The drill finally struck solid bedrock.
  • hollyhock A pink hollyhock leaned against the mailbox post.
  • livestock Ranchers moved their livestock to higher ground.
  • overstock Shops overstock sleds before the first snowfall.
  • restock Volunteers restock the pantry shelves each Friday.
  • shamrock She pressed a shamrock between two pages.
  • ticktock The ticktock of the hall clock filled the room.
  • windsock The orange windsock pointed straight east.

List 5: -ock inside a longer word (pocket) 12

  • clockwise Stir the batter clockwise until it thickens.
  • hockey We play street hockey with a tennis ball.
  • jockey The jockey wore green and yellow silks.
  • locker My gym locker smells like old sneakers.
  • locket Her locket holds a tiny photo of the dog.
  • mockingbird A mockingbird sang from the chimney all evening.
  • pocket A smooth pebble rode home in my pocket.
  • rocker Grandma's rocker creaks on the porch boards.
  • rocket The model rocket landed in a cornfield.
  • rocky The rocky path twisted down to the cove.
  • socket Screw the bulb gently into its socket.
  • stocking One wool stocking hung drying by the stove.

List 6: ends in -ock, said quietly (hammock) 6

  • haddock The cook fried haddock in a crisp batter.
  • hammock The hammock swayed between two palm trees.
  • hillock We ate lunch on a grassy hillock.
  • hummock A heron stood on a hummock in the marsh.
  • paddock Three foals raced around the grassy paddock.
  • tussock A field mouse nested in a tussock of grass.

How this list was compiled: Words chosen and sorted into 6 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 34 words on Lists 1 to 4 as ŏk, with short o: a secondary stress mark on the last syllable of most longer words (padlock, shamrock) and the main stress there in unlock, interlock, restock, overstock and unblock. On List 5 the same ŏk is the first, stressed syllable and another follows (pocket, pŏk-ĭt). On List 6 it writes the ending ək, a weak vowel with no stress (hammock, hăm-ək), so those six words do not rhyme with rock; 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 word histories on this page (o'clock, shamrock, hammock, the small -ock of hillock and hummock) and the pronunciations of knock, walk and talk 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: rock (roc), dock (doc), block (bloc) and knock (nock); the dictionary gives the words of each pair one pronunciation, and Wiktionary lists roc, doc and nock as homophones. Wiktionary lists walk with wok, stock with stalk and chock with chalk only for speakers who say cot and caught alike; none is stored. LEFT OUT: sunblock and airlock (also entered as two words), woodblock (also wood block), pollock (also pollack), tock (no entry), 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

From dock to aftershock, the 34 words on the first four lists end in -ock and share one sound. Pocket and rocket have a list of their own, and so do hammock and five more that only look alike.

Read the full guide

Ock word family words in six lists

One letter stands in front on List 1: dock, lock, mock, rock, sock. List 2 has two letters there: block, chock, clock, flock, frock, knock, shock, smock, stock. List 3 ends in -lock, such as padlock and gridlock. The long words of List 4 end other ways: shamrock, livestock, aftershock. List 5 keeps -ock inside (pocket, hockey). List 6 looks alike and does not rhyme: hammock, paddock, hillock.

O'clock, shamrock and a small hill

The American Heritage Dictionary gives o'clock as short for of the clock and traces shamrock to the Irish seamróg, a little clover. It calls -ock an ending for something small: a hillock is a small hill. Hammock came through Spanish from Taíno.

  • Knock begins with a silent k: the dictionary writes it (nŏk). A nock, the notch in the end of an arrow, sounds the same.
  • Roc, doc and bloc sound like rock, dock and block. A roc is a giant bird of legend, a bloc a group that acts together.

Questions and answers

Does hammock rhyme with rock?

No. The American Heritage Dictionary writes hammock as (hăm-ək): the stress is on ham and the last vowel is weak. Paddock, haddock, hillock, hummock and tussock end the same way, so all six stand on List 6.

Do walk and talk rhyme with rock?

Not in the American Heritage Dictionary: walk is (wôk) and talk (tôk), the vowel of paw, while rock is (rŏk), the short o of pot. Wiktionary notes that speakers who say cot and caught alike rhyme them.

Can I print ock word family worksheets?

Yes. The fourteen one-syllable words of Lists 1 and 2 fit two short sheets: pick Word list, Test sheet, ABC order or Missing letters for either one.

More tools

Show 8 more

Browse Flashcards