Key takeaways
- The Dolch list has 220 high-frequency "service" words plus 95 nouns — 315 words in total.
- Words are grouped into five levels: Pre-Primer, Primer, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.
- Many Dolch words can't be sounded out (the, said, was), so children learn them by sight.
- Teach a small set each week, review daily, and practice in real sentences — not just in isolation.
- Sight word games, tracing, and worksheets turn recognition into automatic reading.
Dolch sight words are the 220 most common words in early reading books, compiled by educator Edward William Dolch and published in his 1936 paper A Basic Sight Vocabulary. He drew them from the children's books of the 1930s, deliberately leaving out nouns (which he listed separately) because these "service" words — pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and connecting words — appear on nearly every page regardless of the topic.
Why do they matter so much? Because many of them break the usual spelling rules. A beginning reader can't reliably sound out the, of, said, was, are, or come. If a child has to stop and decode each of these, reading becomes slow and exhausting. When these words are recognized instantly — "by sight" — the reader's attention is freed up for comprehension. That's the whole point of a sight word: automatic, effortless recognition.
Share of the words in a typical children's book that come from the Dolch list.
Source: E. W. Dolch, A Basic Sight Vocabulary (1936)
The Dolch sight words lists by grade
Below are all 220 Dolch service words, grouped into the five levels Dolch and later teachers use. The nouns follow at the end. Teach them roughly in this order — each level assumes the ones before it.
Pre-Primer (40 words): a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
Primer (52 words): all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes
First Grade (41 words): after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when
Second Grade (46 words): always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
Third Grade (41 words): about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm
The 95 Dolch nouns are a separate list of common naming words — for example: apple, baby, ball, bear, bed, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, farm, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, girl, home, house, kitty, man, milk, money, morning, mother, name, rain, ring, robin, school, seed, sheep, shoe, snow, song, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, tree, watch, water, way, wood. Together the 220 service words and 95 nouns give young readers 315 high-frequency words to master before grade 4.
How to teach Dolch sight words
- 1
Assess what they already know
Show each word on a card and note the ones a child reads within about three seconds. Only teach the unknown words — don't waste time drilling mastered ones.
- 2
Introduce 5 words a week
A small, fixed set keeps success visible. At five per week, a typical child works through a full level in 8–10 weeks and the whole 220-word list across two to three school years.
- 3
Use read–spell–write–check
Read the word aloud, spell it out loud, write it from memory, then check against the card. This multisensory loop builds a stronger memory than flashcards alone.
- 4
Practice in real sentences
Put the target words into short sentences the child reads and dictates. Words like 'the' and 'was' only become automatic when met in context, not just on cards.
- 5
Review daily and mix old with new
Spend two minutes a day revisiting previously learned words alongside the new set. Spaced review is what moves a word from 'sounded out' to 'known on sight.'
Sight word activities that work
Sight word bingo
Fill cards with the week's words and call them out. Children scan and recognize under mild time pressure — great for a five-minute warm-up.
Word searches
Hide the target words in a grid. Hunting for the exact letter string reinforces spelling and left-to-right tracking.
Tracing and rainbow writing
Trace each word, then rewrite it in three colors. The motor pattern helps irregular words like 'said' and 'come' stick.
Sand or salt trays
Write words with a finger in a shallow tray. The tactile feedback is especially useful for kinesthetic learners.
Sentence building
Give word cards and let children build and read their own sentences. This is where recognition turns into fluent reading.
Word walls
Post mastered words where the class can see them, grouped by level, as a living reference for reading and writing.
Dolch vs. Fry sight words
The Dolch list isn't the only sight word list teachers use. The other common one is the Fry list. Here's how they compare so you can pick the right fit for your readers.
| Feature | Dolch list | Fry list |
|---|---|---|
| Number of words | 220 service words + 95 nouns | 1,000 words |
| Created by | Edward Dolch (1936) | Edward Fry (1957, updated 1980) |
| Source of words | Children's storybooks | American Heritage Word Frequency Book |
| Grade range | Pre-K through 3rd grade | Grades 1 through 9 |
| Grouped by | Reading level (Pre-Primer to 3rd) | Hundreds (first 100, second 100, etc.) |
| Best for | Earliest readers, Pre-K–2 | Extending fluency through upper elementary |
The two lists overlap heavily at the start — most of the first 100 Fry words are also Dolch words. A practical approach: use Dolch for kindergarten and first grade, then move to the Fry list to keep building sight vocabulary through the later grades.
Turn any Dolch level into printable practice
Generate tracing, matching, and sentence worksheets for the exact word set your students are learning this week.
Make sight word worksheetsFrequently asked questions
There are 220 Dolch service words plus a separate list of 95 nouns, for 315 words in total. The 220 are split into five levels: Pre-Primer, Primer, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade.
Dolch is a 315-word list built from 1930s children's books for Pre-K to 3rd grade. Fry is a 1,000-word list drawn from a broad word-frequency study for grades 1–9. They overlap heavily early on, and many teachers use Dolch first, then Fry.
Many can't follow regular phonics rules — words like 'the,' 'said,' 'was,' and 'come' have irregular spellings. Rather than decode them, children learn to recognize them instantly by sight, which is why they're called sight words.
Teach them in level order: Pre-Primer first, then Primer, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Within each level, introduce about five words a week, review daily, and practice them in real sentences.
Most children begin with the Pre-Primer list in pre-kindergarten or kindergarten (around ages 4–5) and finish the 3rd-grade list by about age 8, learning roughly one level per school year.