For families & teachers
Sight words — and the better way to teach them.
"Sight words" are the high-frequency words children meet constantly — the, said, you, was, here. The classic Dolch and Fry lists are below, by grade. But here's what most lists won't tell you: most sight words are decodable, and the few that aren't are best taught as heart words — not memorized by shape.
What are sight words?
Sight words are words a reader recognizes instantly, without sounding them out. In practice the term is used for high-frequency words — the small set of words that make up a huge share of everything we read. The traditional idea was that because these words appear so often (and some have irregular spellings), children should memorize them whole, "by sight." That second part is where the trouble starts.
Sight words vs. heart words
Cognitive science is clear: the brain doesn't store words as pictures. Skilled readers store words through orthographic mapping — bonding a word's spelling, sounds, and meaning together — and that bond is built by decoding, not by visual memorization. So the modern, Science-of-Reading approach keeps the same word lists but changes the method:
Old way — memorize the shape
Flashcard the whole word until the child recognizes its outline. Works for ~50 words, then stalls — and it trains kids to guess instead of decode.
SoR way — heart words
Decode the regular letters; flag only the irregular part to "know by heart" (the ai in said). The word maps permanently, and decoding gets stronger.
The kicker: most high-frequency words are perfectly regular (cat, go, see, and, can, not) and just need normal phonics. Only about 100 words across the Dolch and Fry lists have genuinely irregular parts that need heart-word treatment. Read the full method in What are heart words?
The lists: Dolch & Fry
Two classic high-frequency word lists anchor almost every sight-word program. See Fry and Dolch word lists for the complete sets.
Dolch (1936/1948)
220 service words (pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives) + 95 nouns, organized pre-primer through 3rd grade.
Fry (1957)
1,000 "instant words" ranked by frequency. The first 100 cover about half of everyday printed text; the first 300 cover roughly two-thirds.
Dolch list by grade
| Typical grade | Dolch list | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K / K | Pre-primer | 40 |
| Kindergarten | Primer | 52 |
| 1st grade | First grade | 41 |
| 2nd grade | Second grade | 46 |
| 3rd grade | Third grade | 41 |
| All grades | Dolch nouns | 95 |
Dolch pre-primer list (the first 40)
The standard starting set for pre-K and kindergarten:
Notice how many are already decodable — can, go, red, run, up, see, big, help. Those don't need memorizing; they need sounding out. Truly irregular ones like said, the, and you are the heart words.
Browse the full lists
Every word, by grade and by list.
How to teach sight words (the SoR way)
- 1. Sort first. Is the word regular (and, see, go) or irregular (said, was, of)? Regular words get decoded like any other word.
- 2. For irregular words, run the heart-word routine. Say the word → tap each sound → mark the one or two letters that don't follow the rules ("know these by heart") → write it while saying the sounds.
- 3. Read it in connected text the same day. A decodable book that contains the word turns the lesson into real reading and completes the orthographic map.
- 4. Keep it in cumulative review. A few encounters across days makes the word automatic — no flashcard drilling required.
This is just normal phonics with the irregular parts named. For the bigger picture, see the Science of Reading guide, and for at-home help, Science of reading at home.
How Storytime AI teaches high-frequency words.
- Heart words tagged in every decodable. Students see exactly which words have a "tricky part," marked with a heart on first encounter.
- Decode-first, never guess. Regular high-frequency words are sounded out like any other word — no whole-word flashcard memorization.
- Audio models the irregular part. Narration pronounces each heart word distinctly so students hear what to map.
- Curriculum-sequenced. Words are introduced in the order your literacy program specifies (UFLI, Wilson, IMSE, Amplify, LMW).
Frequently asked
Sight words: common questions.
Are sight words just memorized by their shape?
That's the old approach, and cognitive science shows it doesn't scale — the brain doesn't store words as visual shapes. Most 'sight words' are actually decodable with regular phonics. The minority that are truly irregular are best taught as 'heart words': decode the regular parts, explicitly flag the irregular part, and let repeated reading bond the word through orthographic mapping.
What's the difference between sight words and heart words?
'Sight word' historically meant 'memorize this word by sight, no decoding.' 'Heart word' is the Science-of-Reading way to teach the same high-frequency words: you decode the regular letters and only 'know by heart' the one or two irregular letters (the 'ai' in 'said'). Same words, a method that actually builds reading.
What are the Dolch and Fry sight word lists?
They're the two classic high-frequency word lists. The Dolch list (Edward Dolch, 1936/1948) has 220 'service words' plus 95 nouns, organized pre-primer through 3rd grade. The Fry list (Edward Fry, 1957) has 1,000 'instant words' ranked by frequency. The first 100 Fry words alone make up roughly half of everyday printed text.
How many sight words should a child know by grade?
A common benchmark: about 40 (Dolch pre-primer) by the end of kindergarten, the pre-primer + primer + first-grade lists (~130) by the end of 1st grade, and the full 220 Dolch service words by the end of 2nd grade. But the goal isn't memorizing a list — it's that regular words get decoded automatically and the ~100 truly irregular words are mapped as heart words.
How do I teach sight words at home?
For a regular word (cat, go, see, and), just have your child sound it out — it's decodable. For an irregular word (the, said, was), use the heart-word routine: say the word, tap the sounds, point out which letter is the 'tricky' part to know by heart, write it while saying the sounds, then read it in a real sentence. Five minutes, a few times a week.
Should I use sight word flashcards?
Flashcards that ask a child to memorize a whole-word shape work against long-term reading. If you use cards, use them to practice the heart-word mapping — sounds first, irregular part flagged — not pure visual recall. Reading the words in connected, decodable text is what cements them.
Teach the words the way reading actually works.
Decodable books, heart-word scaffolds, and ORF practice — the Science-of-Reading platform that turns high-frequency words into real, automatic reading. Free classroom, no credit card.