The Dolch word list is a list of frequently used English words compiled by Edward William Dolch, a major proponent of the "whole-word" method of beginning reading instruction. The list was prepared in 1936 and was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948.
Dolch compiled the list based on children's books of his era, which
is why nouns such as "kitty" and "Santa Claus" appear on the list
instead of more high-frequency words. The list contains 220 "service
words" that have to be easily recognized in order to achieve reading
fluency in the English language. The compilation excludes nouns,
which comprise a separate 95-word list. Between 50% and 75% of all
words used in schoolbooks, library books, newspapers, and magazines are a
part of the Dolch basic sight word vocabulary.
These lists of words are still assigned for memorization in American
elementary schools. Although most of the 220 Dolch words are phonetic,
children are sometimes told that they can't be "sounded out" using
common sound-to-letter implicit phonics
patterns and have to be learned by sight; hence the alternative term,
"sight word". The list is divided according to the grades in which it
was intended that children would memorize these words.
Pre-primer: (40 words) 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
Primer: (52 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, saw, say, she,
so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went,
what, white, who, will, with, yes
1st Grade: (41 words) after, again, an, any, as, ask, by,
could, every, fly, from, give, giving, 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
2nd Grade: (46 words) always, around, because, been, before,
best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found,
gave, goes, green, its, 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
3rd Grade: (41 words) 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, nine, only,
own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together,
try, warm
Dolch Listing of Nouns: (95 words) 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, good-bye, 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, wood
