Kindergarten Sight Words: Lists, Flash Cards & Games

Here are the kindergarten sight words most schools teach, sorted into four lists, plus a free practice studio. Kids can tap any word to hear it, play three reading games, and print cards and checklists. Pick a list below and press the big speaker button.

On this page: The word lists · How many words? · Heart words · How to teach a word · 10-week plan · Activities · At home · FAQ

Kindergarten sight words list

Sight words are the short, common words that kids need to read in a snap, without stopping to sound them out: the, and, is, you, said. There is no single official list. Most schools use one of two classic lists, the Dolch list or the Fry list, or a mix of both. Here they all are, with the tricky letters in each word marked in pink. (More on why below.)

Starter 25: the words on both lists

When I compared the Dolch Pre-Primer list with the Fry First 100, 25 words showed up on both. Those 25 are a smart place to start: they are on almost every kindergarten list, and they come up again and again in early books. They are listed here in order of how often they appear in print.

• the
• and
• a
• to
• in
• is
• you
• it
• for
• I
• one
• not
• we
• can
• said
• up
• make
• look
• two
• go
• see
• my
• find
• down
• come

Dolch Pre-Primer sight words (40 words)

Edward William Dolch published his word lists in the 1930s and 1940s by studying the words used most in children’s books of the time. The Pre-Primer list is the one most kindergartens start with. It includes some “story words” like yellow, funny, and jump that aren’t on the Fry list.

• 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

Dolch Primer sight words (52 words)

The Primer list is usually the second half of kindergarten, or the start of first grade for kids who need more time.

• 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

Fry First 100 sight words

Edward Fry built his “Instant Words” list from a large count of the words used in books for grades 3 to 9. The first 100 are often said to make up about half of everything we read. This list usually covers kindergarten and first grade, so don’t expect a kindergartner to know all 100. Here it is in frequency order, so the most useful words come first.

• the
• of
• and
• a
• to
• in
• is
• you
• that
• it
• he
• was
• for
• on
• are
• as
• with
• his
• they
• I
• at
• be
• this
• have
• from
• or
• one
• had
• by
• word
• but
• not
• what
• all
• were
• we
• when
• your
• can
• said
• there
• use
• an
• each
• which
• she
• do
• how
• their
• if
• will
• up
• other
• about
• out
• many
• then
• them
• these
• so
• some
• her
• would
• make
• like
• him
• into
• time
• has
• look
• two
• more
• write
• go
• see
• number
• no
• way
• could
• people
• my
• than
• first
• water
• been
• call
• who
• oil
• now
• find
• long
• down
• day
• did
• get
• come
• made
• may
• part
• over

Which list should you use?

If your child’s school sends home a list, use that one, so practice at home matches what happens in class. You can type it into My Words in the tool and share it with a link. If you’re choosing for yourself, start with the Starter 25, then move on to the rest of the Dolch Pre-Primer. Only 25 of the 40 Pre-Primer words are also on the Fry 100, but the other 15 (like little, play, and here) are in nearly every beginning reader, so they’re worth learning too.

How many sight words should a kindergartner know?

Schools set very different goals, often anywhere from about 20 to 100 words by the end of kindergarten. My honest take: a child who can read the Starter 25 quickly by the end of kindergarten is in great shape, and anything beyond that is a bonus.

Literacy researcher Timothy Shanahan has written that he thinks around 20 words by the end of kindergarten is a reasonable goal, and that kindergarten time is better spent on letter sounds and sounding out words. A long list memorized as flash-card drills doesn’t make a strong reader. Knowing letter sounds well and a small set of common words does.

A word counts as known when your child can read it in about three seconds or less, in any book, on more than one day. Reading it slowly is still progress. Reading it fast one day and forgetting it the next means it needs a little more practice. The checklist printout in the tool has columns for four dates, so you can see this over time.

Sight words, high-frequency words, and heart words

These terms get mixed up a lot, so here’s the short version:

• High-frequency words are the words used most often in print. The Dolch and Fry lists are lists of high-frequency words.
• Sight words, strictly speaking, are any words a reader knows instantly. For a skilled adult reader, almost every word is a sight word.
• Heart words are high-frequency words with a part that doesn’t follow the letter sounds a child knows yet. That part has to be learned “by heart.”

For years, kids were taught sight words as whole shapes to memorize. Research on how the brain stores words, especially Linnea Ehri’s work on orthographic mapping, shows that we actually remember words by linking each sound to its letters, not by their shapes. That’s why so many teachers now use the Heart Word Method, popularized by Really Great Reading: sound out the regular part of the word, and put a heart over the part that has to be remembered.

The good news is that most of a heart word is regular. In said, the s and the d do exactly what a kindergartner expects. Only the ai is tricky. Marking just that part makes the word much easier to remember than treating all four letters as a mystery.

The heart words in kindergarten lists

Here are the most common heart words, with the part that’s tricky for a kindergartner. The tool shows these hearts on every card. You can turn them off in Settings.

Word	Heart part	Why it’s tricky
the	e	says /uh/
a	a	says /uh/ when it is a word on its own
to	o	says /oo/
do	o	says /oo/
you	ou	says /oo/
said	ai	says /e/, like in "bed"
was	a	says /u/
of	o, f	o says /u/ and f says /v/
one	one	the whole word says /wun/
two	wo	the w is silent and o says /oo/
come	o, e	o says /u/ and the e is silent
what	a	says /u/
want	a	says /o/
are	e	is silent
have	e	is silent (English words almost never end in v)
they	ey	says /ay/
where	ere	says /air/
find	i	says its name without a silent e
could	oul	says /oo/ (same in would)
who	w, o	the w is silent and o says /oo/

Words like like, make, see, and look aren’t marked. They follow patterns, such as the silent e or the double o, that most kids learn later in kindergarten or in first grade. Until then, teach them as whole words. Once the pattern is taught, kids can sound them out.

How to teach a new sight word in 5 minutes

This is the routine I’d use for each new word. It works the same at a classroom table or a kitchen table, and it takes about five minutes.

1. Say it. Say the word and use it in a sentence: “Said. Mom said yes!” Your child repeats the word.
2. Count the sounds. Tap a finger for each sound: /s/ /e/ /d/. Said has three sounds.
3. Match sounds to letters. Write the word. Point to the letters for each sound: s, ai, d.
4. Find the heart part. Ask, “Which part doesn’t sound like we’d expect?” Draw a small heart over ai.
5. Write it. Your child writes the word while saying each sound, then reads it back.
6. Read it in a sentence. Read a short sentence with the word, then ask your child to find it on a page in a real book.

Then review it for a minute or two on the next few days with the flash cards or a game. Short, spaced reviews work better than one long session.

A 10-week plan for the Starter 25

Here’s one way to spread the Starter 25 over ten weeks: three words a week at first, then two. I put the words in an order that lets kids read real sentences very early. By week 2, a child can read “We can see a dog” using only sight words and an easy-to-sound-out word like dog.

Week	New words	A sentence they can read
Week 1	I, a, the	I hug the cat.
Week 2	see, can, we	We can see a dog.
Week 3	go, to, up	We go up to the top.
Week 4	my, is, it	It is my hat.
Week 5	and, in, look	Look in the box and see!
Week 6	you, said	"I can see you," said Mom.
Week 7	for, not	It is not for the cat.
Week 8	one, two	I can see one, two cats.
Week 9	come, make	Come and make a mess!
Week 10	find, down	Look down and find it!

Keep reviewing old words every week. A good rhythm is to learn new words on Monday, play games midweek, and do a quick checklist on Friday. If a word isn’t sticking, don’t add the next ones yet. If your class is ahead, move on to the rest of the Dolch Pre-Primer list.

12 sight word activities kids actually enjoy

None of these need special supplies. Most work with the mini cards from the Print tab.

1. Flashlight hunt. Tape word cards around a dim room. Call out a word; your child finds it with a flashlight and reads it.
2. Swat it. Lay 6 cards on the table. Say a word; your child swats it with a fly swatter or a spatula.
3. Sight word hopscotch. Chalk a word in each square. Kids read each word as they land on it.
4. Rainbow writing. Write a word three times in three colors, saying each sound out loud while writing.
5. Word in a book. Pick one word for the day and count how many times it appears in a bedtime story.
6. Go Fish. Print two sets of mini cards. “Do you have said?”
7. Build it with letters. Use magnetic letters or the Build It game in the tool. The tool marks the heart letters while kids build.
8. Sentence scramble. Write a short sentence on a strip of paper, cut it into words, and have your child put it back in order.
9. Beat the timer. Read a pile of 5 cards against a 30-second sand timer. Try to beat yesterday’s score, not anyone else’s.
10. Car game. Look for the, go, stop, and in on signs and menus.
11. Memory match. Play with printed cards or the Memory Match tab. Read each card out loud when you flip it.
12. Read it, keep it. Make a pile of cards. Your child keeps every card they read quickly; the others go back for next time.

Practicing sight words at home

If you’re a parent, five minutes a day beats an hour on Saturday. A simple routine: read the words from this week on the flash cards, play one round of Listen & Find, then read a picture book together and hunt for one of the words. Stop while it’s still fun.

When your child gets stuck, don’t just tell them the word. Point to the first letter and ask what sound it makes, then help with the heart part. When they guess from the picture, cover the picture and look at the letters together. And keep sounding-out practice going alongside sight words. Our short vowel worksheets and beginning sounds worksheets help with that. For more short, screen-free ideas, see our kindergarten activities at home.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Too many words at once. Ten new words a week is a lot for a five-year-old. Two or three is plenty.
• Drilling without reading. Flash cards are a warm-up. The real goal is reading the words in sentences and books.
• Teaching words as shapes. Tracing around a word’s outline is a popular activity, but it doesn’t help kids remember the letters. Spend that time linking the sounds to the letters instead.
• Testing too often. A quick check once a week is enough. Daily quizzes make reading feel like a test.

Printable sight word flash cards and checklists

Use the Print tab in the tool to make black-and-white printables from any list, including your own words:

• Flash cards, 8 per page, with an optional sentence under each word.
• Word wall cards, 4 big words per page for a classroom wall or a fridge.
• Mini cards, 20 per page, for Go Fish, memory, and other card games.
• A sight word checklist with four date columns, for quick assessments in class or at home.
• A “Sight Word Superstar” certificate from the My Progress tab, with your child’s name and the number of words they know.

You can choose to print only the words your child hasn’t learned yet, and switch between lowercase and uppercase. To print a PDF instead, choose “Save as PDF” in the print window. Looking for more printables? Try our flash cards, spelling worksheets, match the word to the picture worksheets, and handwriting worksheets.

Kindergarten sight words FAQ

What are the most common kindergarten sight words?

The words that appear on almost every kindergarten list are the, and, a, to, in, is, you, it, for, I, one, not, we, can, said, up, make, look, two, go, see, my, find, down, and come. These are the 25 words on both the Dolch Pre-Primer and the Fry First 100 lists.

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

Dolch sorted his words by grade level, from Pre-Primer to Grade 3, based on children’s books of his time. Fry ranked his words by how often they appear in print, in groups of 100. The two lists overlap a lot. Dolch is more common in kindergarten classrooms, and Fry is common in first and second grade.

When should kids start learning sight words?

Most kids are ready once they know most letter sounds, which is usually early in kindergarten. A preschooler who is curious can learn a few words like I and a through play, but there’s no need to push.

Should my child learn sight words in uppercase or lowercase?

Lowercase. Almost everything kids read is in lowercase. Use a capital letter only at the start of a sentence and for the word I. You can switch the tool to uppercase in Settings if your child’s class uses it for a reason.

My child knows the word on a card but not in a book. Is that normal?

Very normal. Cards show the word alone; books surround it with other words and pictures. That’s why the tool shows every word in a sentence, and why we suggest hunting for the word in real books.

How long does it take to learn a sight word?

It varies a lot. Some words stick after a few practice sessions, and heart words like said and was often take longer. Keep reviewing until your child reads the word quickly on several different days.

Does the tool save my child’s progress?

Yes. Progress is saved in your browser on the device you’re using, with no account or email needed. If you use more than one tablet or computer, each one keeps its own progress.

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