200+ First Grade Sight Words for Young Readers

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Plus, games to help your child learn and practice at home

Co-authored by Jack Wallace and Dan Hickey

Last Updated: November 28, 2024 Fact Checked

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Common First Grade Sight Words

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Example Sentences

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Learning Games & Activities

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How many words for first grade?

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What are sight words, exactly?

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Sample Sight Word Lists

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Video

Sight words are short, common, “easy” words that young children can learn to recognize on sight (rather than sounding them out). Being familiar with sight words makes reading and comprehension easier for first graders, and it expands their vocabulary. While each child learns differently, most first graders know about 100 sight words. You can help your child learn more sight words by incorporating them into a variety of learning games and activities. In this article, we’ll share 200+ common first grade sight words, plus example sentences, activities to reinforce learning at home, and more. Read on to help your child read on, too!

First Grade Sight Words

Common sight words for first grade include short, very common, easy-to-sound-out words like “a,” “my,” “such,” “down,” and “little.”
Most first graders should have a solid grasp of about 100 sight words by the end of the year.
Practice sight words with games at home, like writing words on note cards, laying them out, and having your child swat each word you say with a fly swatter.

Section 1 of 5:

Common First Grade Sight Words

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a	comes	his	my	she	used
about	could	how	new	so	very
after	day	I	no	some	was
again	did	if	nut	such	water
all	different	in	now	take	way
also	do	into	number	than	we
an	does	is	of	that	well
and	down	it	off	the	went
another	each	its	old	their	were
any	even	just	on	them	what
are	find	no	one	then	when
around	first	like	only	there	where
as	for	little	or	these	which
at	from	long	other	they	who
away	get	look	our	things	why
back	go	made	out	think	will
be	good	make	over	this	with
because	had	man	part	three	word
been	has	many	people	through	words
before	have	may	place	time	work

Section 2 of 5:

Sight Word Example Sentences

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The sentences below contain common sight words. Read these sentences with your child to help them learn sight words, then work together to create some of your own!
- “I see my school bus.”
- “I can tie my shoes.”
- “I know three words.”
- “She is big like me.”
- “You are right.”
- “He said thank you.”
- “I like my dog.”
- “Here comes the school bus!”
- “You are my friend.”
- “I made eggs because they are yummy.”

Section 3 of 5:

Sight Word Learning Games & Activities

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Write out 15-20 sight words on separate note cards or sticky notes and arrange them in a grid pattern. Hand your young reader a fly swatter (or any stick-like object) and have them swat the word you’re saying.^{[1]
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Research source} For an extra challenge, try putting on a timer to encourage them to recognize sight words faster.
Cut out circles of brown or yellow construction paper and write out 15-20 sight words on them. Arrange them on a flat surface (your “stove”) and hand your child a spatula. Say a word and have them flip the “pancake” that has that word.^{[2]
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Choose 15-20 sight words and write them on the underside of some paper cups. Turn the paper cups upside down and hide a pom-pom (or any small toy or object) under one cup. Challenge your child to find the pom-pom by recognizing the matching sight word.^{[3]
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Hang a printout of a bullseye on the wall (or draw one on poster board, or make one out of masking tape—the options are endless!). Then, write a handful of sight words on sticky notes and stick them on the dart board. Ask your child to aim for specific sight words with a foam dart gun, bean bags, or any other small toy that won’t damage the walls.^{[4]
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Craft a hungry monster out of an empty tissue box—add googly eyes, paper fangs, or any other features your child likes! Then, instruct your child to “feed” the monster note cards with specific sight words on them through the opening of the box (the monster’s “mouth”).^{[5]
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Write out 10 sight words on note cards or sticky notes and attach or stick them to bowling pins (or half-filled plastic water bottles). Call out a sight word and have your child try to knock over the matching pin by rolling a ball at it.^{[6]
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More tips:
- Introduce new sight words by themselves first, then follow up right away with sentences, books, or other materials that use them.^{[7]
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- Try not to introduce two sight words that look similar or can be easily confused in the same lesson or session. For example, space out words like “will” and “well” or “me” and “my.”
- Keep sight word sessions short but frequent (for example, only 10 minutes a day, most days of the week). See how your child responds before trying longer or shorter sessions.
- Give immediate, specific feedback while your child practices.
  - For example, if they pronounce “does” correctly, say “Good job! That is the word ‘does.’”
  - If they pronounce it incorrectly, say “That word is ‘does.’ Let’s say the word ‘does’ together.”

Section 4 of 5:

How many sight words should a first-grader know?

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Most children know about 100 sight words by the end of first grade. There’s no “correct” number of sight words to know since each child learns and develops differently. A general rule of thumb as your child starts reading is to teach a handful of very common sight words in Pre-K, about 20 sight words in Kindergarten, and 100 in first grade.^{[8]
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- It’s better for a child to fully grasp fewer words than to only kind of know a lot of words. In other words, don’t stress if your child can’t recognize 100 words in first grade—focus on strengthening the words they do know to help teach them to read more effectively.

Section 5 of 5:

What are sight words, exactly?

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Sight words are common words that can be recognized automatically. When a beginning reader has a large vocabulary of simple sight words under their belt, they can devote more time and energy to understanding hard or new words (and can read more quickly and easily overall). There are two types of sight words:^{[9]
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- High frequency sight words occur very often in printed English. They can be sounded out easily, but recognizing them by sight allows for faster reading (for example, “and,” “or,” “like”).
- Irregular sight words also occur frequently but are harder to sound out because they don’t use typical letter sounds (for example, “there,” “of,” “have”). Recognizing these automatically saves time and brain power while reading.

Sample Sight Word Lists

Sample First Grade Sight Words

Sample Fry Sight Word List

Sample Dolch Sight Word List

Sample Math Sight Word List

Various educators and learning experts have created slightly different sight word lists over the years, although many of the words overlap. Above you’ll see PDFs to three of the most popular sight word charts. This includes:
- Dolch list: Educator Edward Dolch created this list in the 1930s based on popular children’s books of the time, and it’s still one of the most popular sight word lists today.
- Fry list: Another popular sight word list created by Dr. Edward Fry. Fry developed this more modern and comprehensive list (last updated in the 1980s) based on reading materials for grades 3-9.
- Math sight words: This list contains sight words children encounter frequently when learning math.