Sight Words Worksheets — Free Printable Dolch & Fry Lists
Every Dolch sight word list for kindergarten through second grade, free to print — 179 words in all. Pick a grade below for checklists, flash cards, and trace-and-write practice, or scroll down to read the complete lists on this page.
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Sight Word Worksheets by Grade
Kindergarten Sight Words
All 40 Dolch pre-primer and 52 primer words — checklist, tracing, word search, and fill-in-the-blank
1st Grade Sight Words
The 41 Dolch first-grade words (or Fry's first 40) — checklist, flash cards, and trace-and-write
2nd Grade Sight Words
The 46 Dolch second-grade words (or Fry's words 41–80) — checklist, flash cards, and write-it-3-times
✍️Sight Word Practice Sheets
Type any words and generate trace-and-write pages
🃏Flash Cards
Cut-apart sight word and math-fact flash cards
Free Printable Sight Word List
All 179 Dolch service words for K–2, grouped by list. Print this page for a quick reference, or open a grade above for a print-formatted checklist with boxes to tick off.
Dolch Pre-Primer
40 words · KindergartenDolch Primer
52 words · KindergartenDolch First Grade
41 words · 1st GradeDolch Second Grade
46 words · 2nd GradeDolch and Fry Sight Word Lists
Nearly every sight word worksheet you will find traces back to one of two lists. Edward Dolch grouped 220 "service words" — the pronouns, verbs, and connectors that hold sentences together — into five grade-level lists, from pre-primer through third grade, plus a separate set of 95 common nouns. Edward Fry took a different approach and ranked his "Instant Words" purely by how often they show up in print, producing one long frequency-ordered list rather than grade buckets.
The two overlap heavily, and neither is better. Dolch is easier to work through with a young child because the grade levels give you a natural stopping point; Fry is useful when you want the highest-value words first regardless of grade. The worksheets on this site let you switch between the two, so you can follow whichever list your child's school uses.
Kindergarten Sight Words
Kindergarten covers two Dolch lists: the 40 pre-primer words (a, and, away, big, blue…) and the 52 primer words (all, am, are, at, ate…) — 92 words in total. This is where reading starts to feel possible, because these words make up a large share of the text in any beginning reader. The standard is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3c: read common high-frequency words by sight.
Print the kindergarten sight words worksheets →First Grade Sight Words
The Dolch first-grade list adds 41 words (after, again, an, any, as…). Many of them are irregularly spelled — could, once, were — which is exactly why they have to be learned by sight rather than sounded out. The standard is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.1.3g: recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
Print the 1st grade sight words worksheets →Second Grade Sight Words
The Dolch second-grade list adds 46 words (always, around, because, been, before…). These are longer and more abstract than the earlier lists, and a second grader who reads them automatically can get through most early chapter books without stopping. The standard is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.2.3f: recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
Print the 2nd grade sight words worksheets →How to Use Sight Word Worksheets
Start with the list, not the pencil
Print the word list first and read through it together. Check off the words your child already reads on sight and circle the ones that stall them. A five-minute pass through the list tells you which handful of words to work on this week — far more useful than starting with a tracing page and hoping the right words come up.
Work in small batches
Five to eight new words at a time is plenty. Practice those until each one is recognized within about three seconds, then swap in the next batch and keep the mastered words in rotation for occasional review. Trying to cover a whole 40-word list in one sitting produces recognition that fades by the next day.
Add writing after reading
Once a word is recognized on sight, tracing and write-it-three-times pages reinforce the spelling and letter formation. Doing it in the other order — copying a word your child cannot yet read — turns the worksheet into a handwriting exercise rather than a reading one. Flash cards sit between the two: quick, low-effort review that keeps earlier batches fresh.
Keep phonics going alongside
Sight words are not a substitute for decoding. Plenty of "sight" words are perfectly regular (and, at, can) and children can sound them out on the way to recognizing them instantly. Pair this practice with phonics worksheets and spelling practice so both skills grow together.
Printing These at Home
Best Home Printers for Worksheets and Printables
Sight word practice means printing the same pages week after week. See which printers keep the cost per page down, and what to look for if you print in volume.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are sight words?
Sight words are the high-frequency words children learn to recognize instantly, without sounding them out. Many of them — said, come, was, they — break normal phonics rules, so decoding them letter by letter slows a reader down. Recognizing them on sight frees up attention for the words that do need decoding, which is why sight word practice sits alongside phonics rather than replacing it.
What is the difference between Dolch and Fry sight words?
Both are lists of the most common words in English, built differently. Edward Dolch grouped 220 service words into five grade-level lists (pre-primer through third grade), plus 95 common nouns. Edward Fry ranked his "Instant Words" purely by how often they appear in print, so Fry's list is a single ranking rather than grade buckets. The two overlap heavily — most schools use one or the other, and either works for practice at home.
How many sight words should my child know?
It depends on the grade. The four Dolch lists covered on this page total 179 words: 40 pre-primer and 52 primer words in kindergarten, 41 more in first grade, and 46 more in second grade. Rather than racing to a number, aim for automatic recognition — a word counts as mastered when your child reads it within about three seconds, without sounding it out.
Are these sight word worksheets free?
Yes — every sight word list and worksheet on Printable Polly is completely free. There is no signup, no account, and no paywall. Print the word list as a checklist, cut apart flash cards, or generate trace-and-write practice pages straight from your browser.