Every Dolch sight word, level by level from pre-primer to third grade plus 97 nouns, with the grade each level is usually taught in.
The Dolch sight words are five leveled lists of service words, from pre-primer to third grade, plus a separate list of 97 nouns. At Chalkbox, we organize these vocabulary lists so elementary teachers and parents can build targeted reading practice for early readers.
The levels below follow the Dolch word list on Wikipedia, which counts 220 service words plus a separate list of 97 nouns. The per-level counts below come from that source, and published versions of the Dolch list vary slightly in their exact counts. Service words are the non-nouns: pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.
a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes
after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when
always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, left, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm
apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, goat, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel, stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind, window, woman, women, wood
Teachers usually assign each Dolch level to one stage between pre-kindergarten (pre-K) and third grade.
Students progress at different speeds. A kindergarten student who masters the primer list early can move directly to first-grade words. Similarly, a second grader who hesitates on primer words benefits from targeted review before tackling their current grade list.
Edward William Dolch built the list around service words, meaning words that are not nouns. He published his initial findings in a 1936 journal article and in his 1948 book "Problems in Reading."
The source notes that these 220 service words make up between 50% and 75% of all words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines. Because service words represent grammar tools like pronouns, auxiliary verbs, and prepositions, they form the structural framework of almost every sentence. A child who instantly recognizes these words reads faster and conserves mental energy for understanding less common vocabulary.
The list is still common in elementary classrooms, where it is usually taught alongside explicit phonics that shows how letters map to speech sounds. Many Dolch words, such as can, not, and went, follow regular letter-sound patterns. Point out those patterns so students decode the words instead of memorizing them from flashcards alone.
Pick Dolch for pre-K through third grade, when you want words grouped by the grade they are usually taught in. Pick Fry when you want one list that keeps going past third grade. Dr. Edward Fry developed it in the 1950s and updated it in 1980. It covers the 1,000 most common words in reading materials used in Grades 3-9, listed by frequency and often taught in groups of 100. Dolch keeps its 97 nouns in a separate list, while Fry mixes nouns such as water, people, and day into the main list. For the first 100 Fry words in alphabetical order, see our Fry sight words list.
Students build automatic word recognition through short, frequent classroom routines that reinforce spelling, pronunciation, and writing. Running two or three varied exercises each week keeps children engaged while reinforcing the same vocabulary set. Our sight words guide has short starter lists by grade and a five-minute daily routine, and the free browser tools below turn any Dolch level into printable practice.
A simple read-the-list assessment provides an accurate measure of which words a child recognizes automatically. Print two copies of the target grade level list: one clean copy for the student and one scoring copy for yourself on a clipboard.
Seat the student beside you in a quiet area. Ask the child to read down each column at an even pace. Mark a word as mastered when the child reads it correctly right away, without sounding it out. If the child hesitates, sounds the word out letter by letter, or reads a different word, put a small mark next to it and move on to the next line.
Count the total number of mastered words to find the child's baseline score. Group the unmastered words into your small-group instruction folders. Repeat the check with each child at the end of every unit and compare the counts to see which words are sticking.
Students who struggle with foundational phonemic awareness should not rely exclusively on whole-word sight word memorization. When children cannot distinguish individual speech sounds or map letters to their corresponding phonemes, memorizing 220 abstract word shapes creates confusion rather than reading fluency. For those readers, pause rote word memorization and focus on explicit, systematic phonics instruction that teaches blending, segmenting, and letter-sound rules.
Older elementary and middle school students also outgrow the Dolch collection. The 220 service words and 97 nouns top out around a third-grade reading level. Beyond that stage, students need subject-specific academic vocabulary and morphology instruction covering prefixes, suffixes, and roots. For older students needing general reading support, the 1,000-word Fry list offers a much more extensive progression.
Our recommendation would change if your school district formally adopts a curriculum that requires decodable texts exclusively. If your school policy prohibits separate sight word lists in favor of an integrated phonics scope and sequence, follow your district's mandated word progression. Similarly, if your school adopts the Fry list across all grade bands, align your classroom flashcards and assessments with Fry's numbered ranks rather than Dolch's grade categories.
Paste any one level into our AI vocabulary quiz generator to get a printable quiz and answer key for that level.
Pick five words from the pre-primer list and print your first set of practice cards to begin introducing Dolch sight words to your students tomorrow morning.
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The Wikipedia source counts 220 Dolch service words plus a separate list of 97 nouns. Its five service levels hold 40 pre-primer, 52 primer, 41 first grade, 47 second grade, and 41 third grade words, and published versions of the list vary slightly in their exact counts.
Neither list is better for every class. Dolch groups 220 service words and 97 nouns by the grade they are usually taught in, from pre-K through third grade. Fry lists 1,000 words by frequency, drawn from reading materials used in Grades 3-9, so it keeps going after the Dolch levels end.
Children usually learn Dolch words from pre-K through 3rd grade. Pre-K and kindergarten usually cover the pre-primer and primer levels, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade each cover the level with that grade's name.
Dolch words are one specific list of high-frequency words compiled by Edward William Dolch, while sight words are any words a reader recognizes instantly without sounding them out. Every Dolch word is meant to become a sight word, but sight words can also come from the Fry list or from a child's own books.
Yes, teachers can teach many Dolch sight words using phonics rules because a large portion of the list follows regular spelling patterns. Words such as "in," "can," "hot," and "went" decode directly through standard sound-spelling correspondences. For irregularly spelled words like "said" or "was," teachers highlight the specific irregular letters while decoding the regular sounds.
Yes, for pre-K through third grade. The source says the list makes up between 50% and 75% of all words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines, so these words show up on nearly every page a child reads. Teach them alongside phonics rather than as shapes to memorize.