Collection: Dolch Primer Sight Words

Dolch sight words are a list of high-frequency words that commonly appear in children’s books and early reading materials. Because these words show up so often, students are encouraged to recognize them instantly—without sounding them out—to support reading fluency and comprehension. The Dolch sight word list was created by Dr. Edward William Dolch, an American educator and literacy researcher. In 1936, Dolch analyzed children’s books and reading materials to identify the words that appeared most frequently in early texts. His goal was to help teachers focus instruction on the words students would encounter most often when learning to read.

There are 220 Dolch sight words in total. These words were selected based on how frequently they appear in children’s reading materials and are widely used in early literacy instruction.

The Dolch sight word list is divided by grade level to match students’ reading development:

Pre-Primer (40 words)
Primer (52 words)
First Grade (41 words)
Second Grade (46 words)
Third Grade (41 words)

Each level introduces words that students are most likely to encounter at that stage of reading.

The Fry sight word list was developed by Dr. Edward Fry in the 1950s and later updated. It contains 1,000 high-frequency words that appear most often in general English texts. Fry words include many nouns, verbs, and adjectives and are grouped by frequency rather than grade level.

Fry list structure:

First 100 words
Second 100 words
Third 100 words
up to 1,000 words