Dolch Sight Words List for PreK and Beyond

Dr. Edward William Dolch first created the Dolch sight words list in 1936 and published them in 1948. This list of words was created by studying children’s book of that time. And then compiling the words that appeared most frequently.

The Dolch sight words consist of 220 “service” words and 95 nouns. Dr. Edward William Dolch does not place a high emphasis on the list of nouns. As nouns are going to be dependent on the subject matter a student is learning.

Words contained within these lists are considered “sight words” as they are expected to be known by sight. The idea was that children should memorize these words instead of using phonics to decode the words.

It is thought that by doing so, kids will read faster, gain confidence in reading and, ultimately, build fluency in language.

However, critics argue that most of the Dolch sight words can be learned through phonics lessons. And that teaching children to memorize lists of words can cause more harm than good.

While critics provide different options for learning sight words, one thing seems certain. Sight words or high frequency words serve as an important aspect of learning to read.

When to Teach Dolch Sight Words

These words are expected to be learned by the 3rd grade and are split into groups of 40+ words. Typically, schools and educators that use the Dolch sight words start incorporating these words in preschool or pre primer.

The list of words will continue until grade 3, in which children are expected to have mastered their Dolch sight words.

List of High Frequency Words

Below are the lists of Dolch sight words, separated by grade level.

PreK, Preschool, Pre Primer (40 words):

a	down	I	make	run	up
and	find	in	me	said	we
away	for	is	my	see	where
big	funny	it	not	the	yellow
blue	go	jump	one	three	you
can	help	little	play	to
come	here	look	red	two

Kindergarten, Primer (52 words):

all	brown	get	new	pretty	soon	want	will
am	but	good	no	ran	that	was	with
are	came	have	now	ride	there	well	yes
at	did	he	on	saw	they	went
ate	do	into	our	say	this	what
be	eat	like	out	she	too	white
black	four	must	please	so	under	who

Grade 1 (41 words):

after	could	has	let	over	them
again	every	her	live	put	then
an	fly	him	may	round	think
any	from	his	of	some	walk
as	give	how	old	stop	were
ask	going	just	once	take	when
by	had	know	open	thank

Grade 2 (46 words):

always	buy	five	many	sit	us	work
around	call	found	off	sleep	use	would
because	cold	gave	or	tell	very	write
been	does	goes	pull	their	wash	your
before	don’t	green	read	these	which
best	fast	its	right	those	why
both	first	made	sing	upon	wish

Grade 3 (41 words):

about	draw	grow	laugh	own	start
better	drink	hold	light	pick	ten
bring	eight	hot	long	seven	today
carry	fall	hurt	much	shall	together
clean	far	if	myself	show	try
cut	full	keep	never	six	warm
done	got	kind	only	small

Nouns (95 words):

apple	cake	duck	good-bye	milk	robin	thing
baby	car	egg	grass	money	Santa Claus	time
back	cat	eye	ground	morning	school	top
ball	chair	farm	hand	mother	seed	toy
bear	chicken	farmer	head	name	sheep	tree
bed	children	father	hill	nest	shoe	watch
bell	Christmas	feet	home	night	sister	water
bird	coat	fire	horse	paper	snow	way
birthday	corn	fish	house	party	song	wind
boat	cow	floor	kitty	picture	squirrel	window
box	day	flower	leg	pig	stick	wood
boy	dog	game	letter	rabbit	street
bread	doll	garden	man	rain	sun
brother	door	girl	men	ring	table

Free Dolch Flash Cards

Download a copy of the Dolch sight words to use with flashcards here: