Sight words
Dolch sight words: the complete list
The Dolch list (Edward Dolch, 1936/1948) is the classic high-frequency word set: 220 'service words' organized pre-primer through 3rd grade, plus 95 nouns. Here's the complete list — with the Science-of-Reading method for teaching it.
Word lists
Pre-primer · 40 words
Primer · 52 words
First grade · 41 words
Second grade · 46 words
Third grade · 41 words
Dolch nouns · 95 words
Don't memorize them — map them.
Most words on this list are decodable with regular phonics (can, go, red, up, see) — they should be sounded out, not memorized by shape. Only the genuinely irregular ones (the, said, you, was) need special handling, and the Science-of-Reading way to teach those is as heart words: decode the regular letters, flag the irregular part to "know by heart," and let repeated reading bond the word through orthographic mapping.
Full method on the sight words hub, and the science behind it in the Science of Reading guide.
More sight word lists
Frequently asked
Dolch list sight words: questions.
How many Dolch sight words are there?
315 in total: 220 'service words' (pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives) organized into five grade levels — pre-primer (40), primer (52), first (41), second (46), third (41) — plus 95 high-frequency nouns.
Dolch vs Fry — what's the difference?
Both are high-frequency word lists. Dolch (1936/1948) has 315 words grouped by grade. Fry (1957) has 1,000 'instant words' ranked by frequency. They overlap heavily; Dolch is more common in K-2 classrooms, Fry extends further up the grades. Either way, the Science-of-Reading method is the same: decode the regular words, map the irregular ones as heart words.
Turn the list into real reading.
Storytime AI tags heart words in every decodable book, models the irregular part, and scores them as students read — the Science-of-Reading way. Free classroom, no credit card.