Dolch Sight Words List by Grade (All 220 Words)

Sight words are the little words kids need to know on sight, without sounding them out: the, said, was, where. The Dolch list is the classic set of them. It was put together in the 1930s by Edward Dolch, an education professor at the University of Illinois, from the words that kept turning up in children's books. Schools still use it today.

The 220 words are split into five levels, from pre-K to third grade. The full list is below, grouped by grade. If you're a parent, start with your child's grade (or the one before it) and ignore the rest for now.

The five Dolch levels

Pre-K

40

ages 4–5

Kindergarten

52

ages 5–6

1st grade

41

ages 6–7

2nd grade

46

ages 7–8

3rd grade

41

ages 8–9

220 words in all. Kindergarten is the biggest jump.

The full Dolch sight word list

Pick a grade, or All 220 to see the whole list. Each grade is in alphabetical order, the way most teachers hand it out, and you can download any grade as a printable PDF.

Why these 220 words matter so much

It's a short list, but these words carry a lot of weight. They're often said to make up more than half of the words in a typical children's book. Here's a simple sentence from an early reader, with the Dolch words highlighted:

The little dog ran to the big red house and jumped into a box of old toys.

12 of 17 words

That's the whole idea. Once the little words are automatic, a child's attention goes to the few new words in the sentence, and to what the story is actually about.

Why kids can't just sound them out

A lot of sight words break the phonics rules kids are learning at the same time. Said doesn't rhyme with paid. Was sounds like "wuz". Of has a v sound with no v in it. If a child tries to sound these out, they get the wrong word, so they have to be learned as whole shapes. Teachers sometimes call them "heart words" or "trick words" for this reason.

The other problem is that many of them look almost the same. These are the pairs that trip kids up most often, and they're worth practising side by side:

was/saw

Same letters, reversed

on/no

Same letters, reversed

went/want

One letter apart

where/were

Hide the h and they match

then/them

Only the last letter differs

from/for

Start the same way

every/very

One hides inside the other

their/there

Sound the same

A 5-minute routine that works

Short and every day beats long and once a week. Five minutes is plenty for a five-year-old, and it's easy to fit in before dinner or at bedtime.

One 5-minute session

Warm upknown words

New words3 at a time, mixed in with ones they know

Read itin a sentence

0 min12345 min

1. Three new words at a time is enough. Most young kids do well with three to five new words a week. Add the next few only when the last ones are easy.
2. Mix new words in with known ones. A pile of nothing but new words feels like a test. Two easy words for every new one feels like a game.
3. Say it, then use it. After they read a word, ask them to say a short sentence with it. "Where is my shoe?" sticks better than "where" on its own.
4. Stop while it's still going well. If they're getting tired or guessing, that's the end of today's session, not a reason to push.
5. Hunt for the words in real books. Once a word is learned, have them find it on a page. Seeing the twelve times in one story is great practice that doesn't feel like practice.

How to tell a word is really learned

Getting a word right once doesn't mean much. Kids often remember a word for a few minutes and then lose it by the next day. A good rule: a word is learned when your child reads it in about three seconds, without sounding it out, on three different days.

Monday

said

sounded it out

Wednesday

said

2 seconds ✓

Friday

said

instant ✓

This is also why flashcards that come back on a schedule work well for sight words. A word your child struggles with comes back the next day. A word they know comes back less and less often, so practice time goes to the words that need it. Our free decks do this for you, and each card has a short example sentence and a read-aloud button so your child can hear the word too.

For teachers: a quick way to check

To find a starting point, sit with one child at a time and show the words from one grade's list. Mark each word they read within about three seconds. Words they miss, or sound out, become their practice list. Repeat every few weeks and the gaps get smaller. The PDFs above work well for this: print one per child, with a box to tick beside each word.

Common questions

How many Dolch sight words are there?

220, in five levels: pre-primer (40), primer (52), first grade (41), second grade (46) and third grade (41). Dolch also made a separate list of 95 nouns, like apple, dog and house. Those are easier to teach with pictures, so they're usually learned alongside the main list.

What's the difference between Dolch and Fry sight words?

The Dolch list is 220 words grouped by grade. The Fry list is 1,000 words ordered by how often they appear in reading. Most Dolch words also sit near the top of the Fry list: 86 of the first 100 Fry words are Dolch words. Use whichever your child's school uses. Our Fry sight words list has the first 100 in four printable sets.

By what grade should my child know them?

Traditionally by the end of third grade. Treat the grades as a rough map, not a deadline.

How many new sight words a week?

Three to five for most young children, with a few minutes of practice a day. Some kids go faster. Move on when the current words are instant on three different days.