IE in words: 11 lists of rimes for spelling activities

Learn to spell while having fun. This ultimate guide of words with IE in them can be used for classroom games, flashcards, posters, poetry and journaling. Get ready to make spelling fun.

The words that include IE may contain digraphs, trigraphs and graphemes with 4 letters. Some of them are rimes that rhyme and some of the rimes don’t rhyme. Before we move on to the IE word lists, let’s explain some of these terms.

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What is a grapheme

A grapheme is the letter or letters used to represent the phoneme in writing. Phoneme is the smallest sound you hear in a word. The graphemes e, ea and ai represent the same middle phoneme in red /r/-/e/-/d/, head /h/-/ea/-/d/ and said /s/-/ai/-/d/.

Phonemes that are represented by different graphemes can make learning to read or spell very difficult for some people. This is because spelling rules don’t apply to words that contain graphemes with more than one letter.

What is a digraph

A digraph is a grapheme made by two letters that represent one sound. Some are:

• ai in wait
• ay in day
• ea in meal
• ee in feet
• ei in vein
• ey in monkey
• ew in stew
• ie in field
• oa in boat
• oo in took
• ou in bought
• ow in tow
• ch in chat
• gh in ghost
• sh in ship
• ss in passion
• th in that
• wh in what
• wr in write

What is a trigraph

A trigraph is a grapheme made by three letters that represent one sound. Some of these are:

• air in hair
• are in share
• ear in bear
• eir in their
• eig in reign
• dge in fudge
• ght in bought
• oar in roar
• oor in door
• igh in sigh
• ure in cure
• tch in catch
• gue in vague

What is a grapheme with 4 letters

A grapheme with 4 letters represents one sound in a word. It does not have an official name but it is referred to as a ‘quadgraph’ by many teachers. Some of these are augh, eigh, ough, ngue and heir.

• augh in caught, naught daughter
• eigh in eight, weigh, height
• ough in through, although, though
• ngue in tongue, cangue, gangue
• heir in heirdom, heirloom

What is rime

Rime is the vowel and letters that come after the onset in a syllable. Onset is the letter or blend before a vowel in a syllable. It can be one, two or three consonants.

In cat, the onset is c. In drain, the onset is dr. In through, the onset is thr. In a word with 3 syllables like catalogue, the onsets are c, t and l.

In cat, the rime is at. In drain, the rime is ain. In through, the rime is ough. In catalogue, the rimes are at, al and ogue.

What is rhyme

Rhyme is the close similarity in the final sounds of two or more words. In poems, rhyme is commonly used at the end of the lines.

Words that rhyme with cat are fat, hat, sat and mat which all have the same rime – at. However, red, head and said also rhyme but don’t have the same rime – ed, ead and aid.

IE in the word

The 11 word lists below contain words with IE in them. When IE comes before any letter except R and W, it is a digraph. Therefore, IER in pier and IEW in view are trigraphs because they have one sound.

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-ie

die, lie, tie, pie, calorie, cookie, movie, beanie, hippie, junkie, genie, siege, shriek, eerie, smoothie

auntie, cutie, foodie, hoodie, bootie, baddie, goalie, birdie, weenie, bookie, hottie, veggie, softie, oldie, dearie, techie, doggie

-ied

cried, fried, tried, died, lied, spied, shied, studied, varied, married, applied

-ief

grief, brief, chief, kerchief, mischief, thief, relief, belief

-ien

science, ambience, hygiene, client, conscience, ancient, deficient, deficiency, efficient, sufficient

friend, fiend, alien, patient, patience, obedient, nutrient, ambient, audience, client

–ier

tier, pier, plier, pierce, cashier, flier, fiery, fierce, glacier, courier, barrier, soldier, carrier, premier, pacifier

-ies

cries, dies, flies, fiesta, kiddies, fries, lies, pies, patties, cookies, skies, ties, spies, priest, diesel, series, species, rabies

-iet

diet, quiet, anxiety, society, variety

-iew

preview, review, interview, viewpoint

-iece

niece, piece, masterpiece, centrepiece, earpiece, showpiece, headpiece, timepiece

-ield

field, shield, yield, wield

-ieve

achieve, believe, grieve, relieve, retrieve, sieve

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See also:

10 Simple things to know about a phoneme or each sound in a word

Spell words easier with 4 grapheme types

Improve reading skills with this phoneme and grapheme guide

Digraph: Improve spelling with 22 word lists of 2-letter graphemes

Trigraph: Spell better with 18 word lists of 3-letter graphemes

4 Letters – one sound: Improve spelling with 5 word lists

Vowels: A simple guide on syllables, digraphs, diphthongs, trigraphs, long, short and silent

Consonants – digraphs, trigraphs, hard, soft, blends, silent sounds

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