aid

ail

aim

bail

bait

braid

brain

chain

claim

drain

fail

fain

faint

faith

flail

frail

Gail

gain

gait

grail

grain

Haig

hail

jail

laid

lain

maid

mail

maim

main

nail

paid

pail

pain

plain

quail

raid

rail

rain

sail

saint

slain

snail

sprain

staid

stain

strain

strait

swain

tail

train

vain

waif

wail

waist

wait

waive

Abigail

abstain

acclaim

afraid

aided

aiding

ailment

aiming

aimless

aioli

assail

attain

avail

await

Bailey

bailiff

bailout

baited

baiting

bandaid

barmaid

bobtail

braided

brainiac

brainy

caiman

claimant

cocaine

cocktail

contain

curtail

daily

dainty

daisy

derail

detail

detain

detainee

domain

doornail

dovetail

drainer

email

entrails

exclaim

explain

failure

fainted

faintest

fainting

faithful

fantail

frailty

gaiety

gaily

gainful

gaining

grainy

handmaid

handrail

hangnail

hobnail

ingrained

inlaid

jailbait

jailbird

jailer (UK gaoler)

liaise

maiden

mailbox

mailer

mainly

malaise

mermaid

obtain

ordain

oxtail

painful

painter

paisley

pertain

pigtail

plainer

prepaid

prevail

proclaim

raided

raider

raiding

railing

railway

raiment

rainbow

raincoat

raindrop

rainfall

raining

rainy

raisins

raising

reclaim

refrain

regain

remain

repaid

repaint

retail

retain

retrain

ringtail

sailor

saintly

sustain

tailing

tailor

tailspin

terrain

toenails

trailer

trainee

trainers

training

traitor

travail

unchain

unpaid

upbraid

vainly

wagtail

wailing

waiter

waiting

waitress

waiver

waylaid

 

3 responses to “ai as in rain”

  1. morgan says:

    very good for teaching

  2. Danielle Jeretina says:

    Need to know info re words spelled ‘ane’ vs ‘ain’, like plane vs plain.
    Can you please shed some light on this or direct me to a source that will explain.
    OR, is it just a matter of memorizing which words are spelled which way ?
    Thank you so much.

    • alison says:

      Hi Danielle, I think words spelt with ANE at the end were originally pronounced differently from the ones with AIN at the end, but over time the pronunciations merged and the words became homophones. There is a great podcast called The History Of English which explains how English pronunciations changed over time, and it includes a lot about how this affected spelling, though I can’t remember this specific rime being discussed. I know that the words “prove” and “love”, for example, rhymed in Shakespeare’s time, but now they don’t, see this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiblRSqhL04. You can find all the words that end with “ANE” here: http://www.morewords.com/ends-with-by-length/ane, but I usually tell kids that the main spelling of this rime in short, common words is AIN, see http://www.morewords.com/ends-with-by-length/ain. Hope that’s helpful, all the best for 2020, Alison

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