Dolch list · 52 words · usually kindergarten

Dolch primer sight words

The primer list is the second Dolch level, with 52 words such as all, are, have, was and saw, and the question words what and who. Many kindergartens work through it in the second half of the year, once children are comfortable with the pre-primer words.

Primer words let a beginning reader do more than name things. With "he", "she", "they" and "we" a sentence can have a character; with "ate", "came", "ran" and "went" it can tell a story that already happened.

All 52 primer sight words, A to Z

  • all
  • am
  • are
  • at
  • ate
  • be
  • black
  • brown
  • but
  • came
  • did
  • do
  • eat
  • four
  • get
  • good
  • have
  • he
  • into
  • like
  • must
  • new
  • no
  • now
  • on
  • our
  • out
  • 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

Printable list and flash cards (PDF) — page 1 is all 52 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

Compared with the first list, these words are a little longer and a lot more likely to have a sound that breaks the rules a kindergartner has learned. "Have" ends in a silent e but does not have a long a. "Are", "was", "what" and "who" all sound different from how they look. "Four" and "our" share letters but not a sound. Words like these are where knowing a word by sight really pays off.

There is also plenty in the list that a child can decode, such as at, but, did, get, no, on, ran, so and yes. If your child can sound one out quickly, that counts. Sight reading simply means the word comes without a struggle, by whatever route.

Several primer words are past-tense forms of present-tense ones: ate (eat), came (come), ran (run), saw (see), went (go), and did (do). Pairing them helps a child notice that the meaning stays and only the time changes, which is useful for reading and for talking about yesterday.

If your child knows most of the pre-primer list, this is the right next step. If not, it is fine to mix the two lists.

How to practice at home

  • Yesterday and today: hold up "run" and ask what it was yesterday, then find the "ran" card together. Do the same with the other pairs.
  • Question game: write who, what and where on cards. Your child draws one and asks you a question starting with that word.
  • Sentence builder: lay out "I", "like", "to", "eat" and a few food words your child can read and let them make silly sentences.
  • Flip and keep: shuffle the flash cards. A word read straight away goes on the keep pile; a word that takes a while goes back in the deck for one more try.
  • Reading detective: give your child a highlighter and a page of a magazine or catalog, and ask them to find every "this" or "that".

Words that trip kids up

  • "Was" and "saw" are the same three letters reversed, and many children read one as the other. Practice them on separate days before you mix them.
  • "There", "they" and "this" all start with th. Look at what comes after the th each time.
  • "Went", "want" and "what" look alike at a glance; slow down and check the middle letter.
  • "Well", "white", "will" and "with" are all w words of four or five letters; read them in a sentence so the meaning helps.

More sight word lists