Old Word Family

Cold, gold, hold and told, then unfold, household and marigold: the -old words in four lists.

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List 1: old and the short -old words (cold)

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

  1. 1.oldThe old lighthouse still blinks at night.
  2. 2.boldBold stripes made the kite easy to spot.
  3. 3.coldCold lemonade dripped down the pitcher.
  4. 4.foldFold the towel in thirds, then roll it.
  5. 5.goldA gold ribbon hung from the trophy shelf.
  6. 6.holdHold the kite spool with both mittens.
  7. 7.moldGreen mold spotted the forgotten bread.
  8. 8.soldThe bake stand sold every pie before noon.
  9. 9.toldNobody told the puppy that slippers aren't toys.
  10. 10.scoldBlue jays scold the cat from the fence.

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Next step More long o before two consonants: bolt, postThe -ost family: most, post, ghost

All 41 words

List 1: old and the short -old words (cold) 10

  • bold Bold stripes made the kite easy to spot.
  • cold Cold lemonade dripped down the pitcher.
  • fold Fold the towel in thirds, then roll it.
  • gold A gold ribbon hung from the trophy shelf.
  • hold Hold the kite spool with both mittens.
  • mold Green mold spotted the forgotten bread.
  • old The old lighthouse still blinks at night.
  • scold Blue jays scold the cat from the fence.
  • sold The bake stand sold every pie before noon.
  • told Nobody told the puppy that slippers aren't toys.

List 2: a first syllable, then -old (behold) 9

  • behold Behold the tallest sandcastle on the beach!
  • enfold Thick quilts enfold the sleeping twins.
  • foretold The dark sky foretold an afternoon storm.
  • outsold Lemon bars outsold brownies at the fair.
  • retold Grandpa retold the fishing story at supper.
  • unfold Unfold the map across the picnic table.
  • untold The attic trunk held untold treasures.
  • uphold Referees uphold the rules of the game.
  • withhold Clouds withhold their rain during a drought.
Show all 41 words (22 more)

List 3: longer words with -old at the end (household) 10

  • billfold Dad's billfold fell between the car seats.
  • blindfold Wear a blindfold for the tasting game.
  • foothold Her boot found a foothold in the rock wall.
  • handhold Each handhold on the gym wall is numbered.
  • household Every household on our block got a flyer.
  • manifold The garden showed manifold shades of green.
  • marigold A marigold seedling poked up beside the beans.
  • sheepfold The shepherd closed the sheepfold at dusk.
  • stronghold The hilltop stronghold had walls of gray stone.
  • toehold The climber searched for one more toehold.

List 4: -old with a syllable after it (golden) 12

  • colder It feels colder near the open window.
  • embolden Loud cheers embolden the shy singer.
  • folder Slip the worksheet into the blue folder.
  • golden Golden leaves drifted onto the pond.
  • goldenrod Bees hummed over the roadside goldenrod.
  • goldfinch A goldfinch pecked seeds from the sunflower.
  • goldfish Our goldfish circles the castle all day.
  • holder Set the candle in its brass holder.
  • moldy Toss the moldy oranges into the compost.
  • older My older cousin taught me to whistle.
  • potholder Grab a potholder before lifting the lid.
  • scolding The squirrel's scolding echoed through the oaks.

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 all 29 words on Lists 1 to 3 as ōld, with long o: the main stress on -old on List 2 (behold, bĭ-hōld) and a secondary mark on it on List 3 (household). On List 4 a syllable follows; older and colder are forms printed in the entries for old and cold. The past forms (sold, told, held), the word histories (marigold, blindfold, manifold, -fold) and the pronunciations quoted on this page (roll, stroll, scroll, polled, bolt, most, scaffold, threshold) 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: bold (bowled), cold (coaled), fold (foaled), hold (holed) and told (tolled); Wiktionary lists each pair, and the dictionary gives bowl, coal, foal, hole and toll one pronunciation and a regular -ed form. LEFT OUT: threshold (a second pronunciation with an h sound), scaffold (a weak vowel first, ōld second), mould (marked chiefly British), twofold, tenfold, refold and remold (no entries of their own), and two 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

Old is a word and an ending at once. Put a letter in front and it makes bold, cold, gold, hold and told. Twenty-nine words here keep that rhyme, up to household and marigold; golden has a list beside them.

Read the full guide

Old word family words in four lists

List 1 is old and the short words: bold, cold, fold, gold, hold, mold, sold, told, scold. List 2 puts a syllable in front: behold, unfold, retold, uphold. List 3 has longer words with -old last: household, foothold, blindfold, marigold. List 4 adds a syllable after it: golden, folder, goldfish.

Sold and told are past forms; hold becomes held

The American Heritage Dictionary gives sold as the past of sell and told as the past of tell, so retold, foretold and outsold are past forms too. Hold goes another way: its past is held, and behold, uphold and withhold become beheld, upheld and withheld.

  • The dictionary traces marigold to Mary and golde, an old word for the calendula, and blindfold to blindfellen, to strike blind: no fold in it.
  • Bold sounds like bowled, hold like holed, told like tolled and fold like foaled.
  • Manifold is many and -fold. The dictionary enters -fold as an ending meaning multiplied by, as in a twofold increase.

Questions and answers

Is the o long in cold and gold?

Yes. The American Heritage Dictionary writes cold (kōld) and gold (gōld) with long o, as it does every word on Lists 1 to 3, though two consonants follow the vowel. Bolt and most keep a long o the same way.

Does rolled rhyme with cold?

Yes. The dictionary writes roll as (rōl), and its entry polled is (pōld), so -olled sounds like -old. Rolled, strolled and scrolled are spelled another way and are not on these lists.

Does scaffold rhyme with old?

Not as the dictionary gives it first: (skăf-əld), with a weak vowel and no stress on the ending; a second pronunciation ends in ōld. Threshold is said two ways as well, with or without an h sound. Both are left off.

Can I print old word family worksheets?

Yes. List 1, the ten short words from old to scold, makes a first sheet: a Word list, a Test sheet, an ABC order sheet or a Missing letters sheet. Lists 2 to 4 print the same four ways.

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