Dolch Words

Language Arts

Dolch Word Lists

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What are Dolch Words?

Dolch "Basic Sight Words" are the 220 most frequently occurring words in children's books, excluding nouns. Because many of the words do not follow decoding rules, they cannot be sounded out. Thus, they are learned by sight. Dolch sight words comprise 52-75 percent of all words found in children's books. Edward William Dolch created the list in 1936, calling them "tool words." Although a handful of the words (e.g. shall, wash) are not considered "high-frequency" today, the majority have stood the test of time.

Pre-Primer	Primer	First	Second	Third

a	all	after	always	about
and	am	again	around	better
away	are	an	because	bring
big	at	any	been	carry
blue	ate	as	before	clean
can	be	ask	best	cut
come	black	by	both	done
down	brown	could	buy	draw
find	but	every	call	drink
for	came	fly	cold	eight
funny	did	from	does	fall
go	do	give	don't	far
help	eat	going	fast	full
hers	four	had	first	got
I	get	has	five	grow
in	good	her	found	hold
is	has	him	gave	hot
it	he	how	goes	hurt
jump	into	just	green	if
little	like	know	its	keep
look	must	let	made	kind
make	new	live	many	laugh
me	no	may	off	light
my	now	of	or	long
not	on	old	pull	much
one	our	once	read	myself
play	out	open	right	never
red	please	over	sing	only
run	pretty	put	sit	own
said	ran	round	sleep	pick
see	ride	some	tell	seven
the	saw	stop	their	shall
three	say	take	these	show
to	she	thank	those	six
two	so	them	upon	small
up	soon	then	us	start
we	that	think	use	ten
yellow	there	walk	very	today
you	they	where	wash	together
	this	when	which	try
	too		why	warm
	under		wish
	want		work
	was		would
	well		write
	went		your
	what
	white
	who
	will
	with
	yes

Resources

Word Search. 15 Pre-Primer Words. PDF file

Online Resources

Jan Brett Dolch Words List. 11 full-sized, printable lists with Jan Brett artwork.

The Dolch Kit. Practice activities, flashcards, and more.

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