Sight Words for Kids in English with (PDF)

Imagine if your child could read sight words for kids smoothly without stopping to sound out every word. That’s the magic of sight words! These are the most common words kids see in books, stories, and daily reading. Learning sight words early helps children read faster, build fluency, improve spelling, and develop strong phonics skills. In this blog, we’ll explore what sight words are, why they matter, and how they support learning to read. Plus, we’ll share fun, engaging activities to teach sight words in a way that makes reading enjoyable and effortless. Whether you're a parent or a teacher, get ready for exciting tips that will help kids become confident readers!

What Are Sight Words?

Sight words are commonly used words that young readers are encouraged to recognize instantly, without needing to sound them out. These words often don’t follow regular phonetic patterns, making them tricky to decode using standard phonics rules. Dolch sight words and high-frequency words are essential for building reading fluency and confidence.

Examples include "the," "was," "you," "said," and "where." By memorizing these words, kids can focus their energy on understanding the story rather than spending too much time decoding each word. Learning high-frequency words early helps improve reading speed, comprehension, and overall literacy skills.

Characteristics of Sight Words

Sight words for Kids often appear frequently in texts and are essential for developing reading fluency. Here are the key characteristics of sight words:

1. High Frequency : Sight words are words we see often in reading and writing. Examples include "the," "and," "is," "it," and "in." Since these words appear so much, learning them helps kids read faster and understand better.

2. Irregular Spelling and Pronunciation : Many sight words don’t follow normal spelling rules, so they are hard to sound out. For example:

"said" – The letters "ai" don’t make their usual sound.
"was" – The letter "a" sounds like "uh."
"one" – It doesn’t sound the way it looks.

Because of this, kids need to memorize these words to read them easily.

3. Short and Simple : Most sight words are short and have one or two syllables. Examples include "to," "he," "she," "we," and "go."

4. Essential for Sentence Structure : Sight Words often include important words that help make sentences :

Articles : “a”, “The”, “an”

Prepositions : “in”, “on”, “at”

Conjunctions : “and”, “but”, “or”

5. Dolch List : Contains 220 high-frequency words, including pronouns, adjectives, and verbs.

6. Fry List : Includes 1,000 words, divided into sets of 100, based on frequency.

What Are The Types Of Sight Words?

1. Dolch Sight Words : The Dolch Sight Words list is a set of 220 common words created by Edward William Dolch in the 1930s. These words are grouped by grade level to help young readers learn step by step.

• Pre-K (Pre-Primer) – Easy words like "a," "and," "big," "come," "for."

• Kindergarten (Primer) – Words like "all," "am," "are," "but," "came."

• First Grade – Words like "after," "again," "ask," "by," "fly."

• Second Grade – Words like "always," "because," "best," "cold."

• Third Grade – Words like "about," "better," "clean," "drink."

There are also 95 common nouns in the Dolch list, such as "apple," "baby," "ball," "cat," and "dog."

2. Fry Sight Words : The Fry Sight Words list was created by Dr. Edward Fry and includes 1,000 common words used in English. These words are grouped into sets of 100, based on how often they appear in reading.

• First 100 Words – Basic words like "the," "of," "and," "is," "you."

• Second 100 Words – Words like "over," "new," "work," "place," "year."

• Third 100 Words – Words like "high," "food," "own," "country," "plant."

3. High Frequency Sight Words : Some words appear very often in reading and writing. These are called high-frequency words.

• Examples: "the," "and," "to," "of," "in," "is," "it," "you," "he," "was," "for," "on," "are."

4. Non- Phonetic Sight Words : Some words don’t follow normal spelling or sound rules, making them hard to read by sounding them out.

• Examples:
  1. "the" – The "e" is silent.
  2. "come" – The "o" sounds like "uh."
  

40 Dolch Sight Words

Grade Level	Dolch Sight Words
Pre-K (Pre-Primer)	a, and, away, big, blue, come, down, find, for, here
Kindergarten (Primer)	all, am, are, ate, be, black, brown, but, came
First Grade	after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly
Second Grade	always, around, because, been, before
Third Grade	about, better, bring, carry, clean

Benefits Of Learning Sight Words For Kids

• Improves Reading Speed – Recognizing sight words instantly helps kids read faster.

• Boosts Reading Comprehension – Kids can focus on understanding the story instead of decoding words.

• Enhances Fluency – Smooth reading without stopping to sound out every word.

• Builds Confidence – Reading becomes easier, making kids feel more confident.

• Supports Spelling Skills – Exposure to common words helps with correct spelling.

• Makes Learning to Read Fun – Games and activities with sight words make reading enjoyable.

Sight Words for Kindergarten

Sight Words	Sight Words	Sight Words	Sight Words
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	say
she	so	soon	that
there	they	under	want
was	well	went	what
white	who	will	with
yes

250+ Sight Words for First Graders

Here’s a comprehensive list of sight words for first graders, including Dolch and Fry sight words to help improve reading fluency.

A - E	F - M	N - S	T - Z
after	find	name	take
again	first	never	thank
all	fly	new	that
always	for	no	the
am	funny	not	their
an	from	now	them
and	gave	of	then
any	go	old	there
around	going	once	these
ask	good	one	they
at	had	only	thing
away	has	or	think
be	here	other	three
because	her	our	to
been	him	out	today
before	his	over	together
best	how	people	too
better	jump	play	try
big	just	put	under
black	know	ran	up
blue	laugh	read	upon
both	let	right	us
bring	like	round	use
brown	little	run	very
buy	live	said	walk
by	look	saw	want
call	made	say	warm
came	make	see	was
can	many	she	well
carry	may	show	went
clean	me	sing	what
cold	much	sit	where
come	must	some	which
could	my	soon	who
cut	myself	start	why
did	never	stop	will
do	new	such	wish
does	next	sure	with
don't	nice	tell	work
down	not	than	would
draw	now	thank	write
drink	off	that	yellow
eat	old	their	yes
eight	once	them	you

Sight Words List

A: a, after, again, all, always, am, and, any, are, around, ask, away

B: be, because, been, before, best, better, big, black, blue, both, bring, brown, buy, by

C: call, came, can, carry, clean, close, cold, come, could, cut

D: did, do, does, don’t, down, draw, drink

E: eat, eight, every

F: find, first, five, fly, for, four, from, funny, full

G: gave, get, give, go, goes, going, good, got, great

H: had, has, have, he, help, her, here, him, his, hold, how, hurt

I: I, if, in, into, is, it, its

J: jump, just

K: keep, kind, know

L: laugh, learn, left, let, light, like, little, live, look

M: made, make, many, may, me, more, much, must, my, myself

N: name, near, never, new, next, nice, no, not, now

O: of, off, old, on, once, one, only, open, or, other, our, out, over, own

P: part, pick, place, play, please, pretty, pull, push, put

R: ran, read, red, right, round, run

S: said, same, saw, say, see, seven, shall, she, should, show, sing, sit, six, sleep, small, some, soon, start, stop

T: take, tell, ten, thank, that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, think, this, those, three, through, time, to, today, together, too, try, turn, two

U: until, up, upon, us, use

V: very

W: walk, want, warm, was, watch, we, well, went, were, what, when, where, which, white, who, why, will, with, work, would, write

Y: yellow, yes, you, your

Z: zero, zoo

Examples Of Sentences With Sight Words For Kids

1. I have a red ball.

2. We go after school.

3. Can you come again?

4. Be kind to everyone.

5. I went home before lunch.

6. The sky is blue today.

7. Can you help me?

8. We will come to play.

9. She could not find her toy.

10. Do you like ice cream?

11. We will sit down here.

12. I did my homework.

13. I like to eat apples.

14. There are eight crayons in my box.

15. I go to school every day.

16. Can you find my book?

17. She is my funny friend.

18. I have five pencils.

19. We saw a zoo animal.

20. The sun is yellow.

Teaching Sight Words To Your Child

Sight words are an essential part of early reading skills, and teaching them in a fun and engaging way can help your child develop reading confidence. Here are some effective methods to introduce and reinforce sight words:

1. Use Sight Word Charts & Flashcards 

• Display colorful charts in the study area.

• Use flashcards to help with quick word recognition.

• Point to words and encourage daily practice.

2. Read Aloud & Repeat 

• Say the words clearly and have your child repeat after you.

• Incorporate sight words into story time and daily conversations.

• Ask your child to spot sight words while reading books.

3. Practice with Writing & Tracing 

• Have your child trace sight words with their finger or a pencil.

• Use sand, playdough, or paint to make writing fun!

• Encourage them to form simple sentences using sight words.

4. Play Games & Activities 

• Sight Word Bingo: A fun way to recognize words.

• Hopscotch Words: Jump on words while reading them.

• Scavenger Hunt: Find hidden sight word cards around the house.

Helpful Tools for Learning and Improving Sight Words

"The Complete Book of Sight Words" is a great resource for helping kids master essential sight words through fun and engaging activities.

Check out Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel for fun and engaging songs that help kids learn sight words easily!

Worksheets

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