Developed in 1948 by Edward William Dolch, Ph.D, the Dolch high frequency word list has held up amazingly well in teaching beginning reading.

You can find the Dolch words in various books, learning activity tutorials, early literacy lesson plans, flash cards, word puzzles and other forms.  This complete list below is for your reference and convenience.  With regard to flashcards, it is best to use COMIC SANS MS font since it looks most like manuscript.  You can find free flash cards on the Internet.

Pre-primer

and, big, can, for, in, is, it, me, one

a, I, my, not, red, run, see, the, to, up, we

blue, come, down, find, go, look, play, said, two, you

away, funny, help, here, jump, little, make, three, where, yellow

Primer

all, am, are, ate, be, do, he, on, saw, say, so, she

but, did, eat, into, new, no, our, too, was, will, with, yes

at, came, now, out, ride, ran, soon, this, want, who

get, must, there, they, under, well, went, what, white

black, brown, four, good, have, like, please, pretty, that

First Grade

after, again, as, by, fly, of, over, round, some, take

give, had, has, how, may, stop, thank, them, then, think

any, ask, giving, him, just, let, live, open, walk, were

an, could, every, from, her, his, know, old, once, put, when

Second Grade

always, around, because, been, does, fast, first, five, sing, sit, sleep

before, best, don’t, found, gave, goes, green, pull, read, right, tell, their

both, buy, its, made, many, off, or, these, those, upon, very, would

call, cold, us, use, wash, which, why, wish, work, write, your

Third Grade

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