The complete Dolch sight word list across all five levels, the structural skeleton of fluent reading. From the first 40 Pre-Primer words for kindergarten readers through to the closing Grade 3 words like TOGETHER, EIGHT and LAUGH — 220 words in total, identified by Edward Dolch in the 1930s as the most frequent in early children’s books and still central to early reading today.

The US Dolch Sight Words series is organised by Dolch level (Pre-Primer, Primer, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3) rather than by grade level alone, because the original Dolch ordering matches reading frequency more closely than school grades do. Each puzzle covers about fifteen words, with patterns flagged where they exist (the “th” family, the silent-K family, the IGH family) and direct memorisation supported with friendly memory hooks where they don’t.

Dolch Pre-Primer

The first sight words a child meets, for pre-K and kindergarten readers. A, AND, AWAY, BIG, BLUE, COME, FOR, FUNNY, GO, HERE, JUMP, LITTLE, LOOK, MAKE, NOT, ONE, PLAY, RED, RUN, SAID, SEE, THE, THREE, TO, TWO, UP, YELLOW, YOU — and the rest. About forty words in three sets, organised gently for early readers.

Dolch Primer

The second level, building on Pre-Primer for kindergarten and early first-grade readers. ALL, AM, ARE, AT, ATE, BE, BLACK, BROWN, BUT, CAME, DID, FOUR, GET, GOOD, HAVE, INTO, LIKE, MUST, NEW, NO, NOW, OUR, 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 — and the rest. Four sets, fifty-two words.

Dolch Grade 1

The third level, for first-grade readers building real fluency. AFTER, AGAIN, AN, ANY, AS, ASK, BY, COULD, EVERY, FLY, FROM, GIVE, GOING, HAD, HAS, HER, HIM, HIS, HOW, JUST, KNOW, LET, LIVE, MAY, OF, OLD, OPEN, OVER, PUT, ROUND, SOME, STOP, TAKE, THANK, THEM, THEN, THINK, WALK, WERE, WHEN — forty words across three sets, including silent-letter surprises like KNOW and WALK.

Dolch Grade 2

The fourth level, for second-grade readers reading longer texts with confidence. 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 — and the rest.

Dolch Grade 3

The fifth and final level, for third-grade readers reading fluently. 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, ONLY, OWN, PICK, SEVEN, SHALL, SHOW, SIX, SMALL, START, TEN, TODAY, TOGETHER, TRY, WARM — the closing words of the entire Dolch list.

All puzzles are free to download as printable PDFs with answer keys. The US Dolch Sight Words series works alongside the Core Phonics series, which covers the systematic phonics journey alongside the Dolch list. For UK families, the equivalent statutory word lists are in the UK Word Lists series.