Dolch list · 46 words · usually 2nd grade

Dolch 2nd grade sight words

The second grade Dolch list has 46 words, from always to your. When a school sends home a list of 2nd grade sight words, it is often this one or a version of it, sometimes used for weekly reading and spelling checks.

Second graders are reading longer books, so these are less about getting started and more about reading smoothly. A child who still pauses on "because" or "would" loses the flow of a paragraph, even if they can sound the word out in the end.

All 46 2nd grade sight words, A to Z

  • 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

Printable list and flash cards (PDF) — page 1 is all 46 words as a checklist with three tick boxes each; the next pages are flash cards to cut out. Free to print, no sign-up.

About this list

This is the list with the most look-alikes and sound-alikes. "Write" and "right" sound the same. "Their" sounds like "there" from the primer list. "Its" without an apostrophe is a different word from "it’s". "Read" can rhyme with "need" or with "red" depending on the sentence. Children are not confused because they are careless; these words really are confusing, and they are worth teaching in pairs with a sentence for each.

The list also has the only contraction among the 220 service words, "don’t", which is a good moment to explain that the apostrophe stands for the missing letter in "do not".

Several words share a pattern your child can lean on. "Would" goes with "could" from the first grade list, and both have a silent l. "These" and "those" are a matched pair. "Does" and "goes" look like they should rhyme and do not, which is worth laughing about together.

By second grade most teachers expect children to spell many of these words as well as read them. If your child reads the list well, start writing two or three words a week in short sentences rather than as a list to memorize.

How to practice at home

  • Homophone sentences: write "I can write my name" and "Turn right at the corner" and let your child read and draw each one.
  • Sort it out: mix the cards and ask your child to sort them into piles: question words (which, why), number and color words (five, green), and the rest.
  • Fast reads: set a calm, slow timer for one minute and see how many cards your child reads. Next week, try to beat their own number, never anyone else’s.
  • Fill the gap: say a sentence with a word missing ("I like it ___ it is fun") and let your child find the card that fits.
  • Spelling on the go: in the car or at the shop, spell a list word out loud and ask your child to say it, then swap.

Words that trip kids up

  • "Write" and "right" sound the same but mean different things; keep them on separate days at first.
  • "Their" (it belongs to them) and "there" (a place) are mixed up well beyond second grade, so it is fine if this takes a while.
  • "Does" and "goes" end the same but sound different: "duz" and "goze".
  • "Which", "wish" and "with" look alike; check the end of the word, not just the start.

More sight word lists