Sight Words vs. High Frequency Words

May 4, 2023

Sight Words vs. High Frequency Words

By Betty Goodman


When I started my teaching career, too many years ago to count, something always puzzled me. It’s amazing what we didn’t learn in our education classes. What is the difference between Sight Words and High Frequency Words? I would see so many of the same words on both lists. . . and I still do. 


To start with, let’s think about the English language and how words are spelled. I can’t think of any spelling “rule” that doesn’t have an exception. In fact, many of the “rules” have many exceptions. Obviously, this can make it difficult to learn to read and spell in English. Just ask those who are struggling to learn English as a second language. 


What has amazed me the most during my very active years as a reading tutor, is that I was able to teach a student to read English using my method, who could speak some English, but was fluent in one of the languages of India. It took a lot of patience and consistency due to some other issues that he faced, but we were successful. You may wonder what this has to do with Sight Words and High Frequency Words. All these words are necessary to read English with enough fluency to know what the sentence says. Many of the Sight Words are small words, that if changed, will change the meaning of the sentence. 


If you are trying to teach a dyslexic student to read, teaching them the sight words can be very difficult; however, totally necessary. I know teachers who had a hard time appreciating the fact that their dyslexic student had made a significant amount of progress with tutoring, because they were still struggling with the Sight Words. They could read the words that could be sounded out, but Sight Words like the, to, was and of were still difficult for them to read. This caused their fluency (ability to read smoothly), to be non-existent. Eventually, they would master these words and fluency followed. 


So, what is the difference between Sight Words and High Frequency Words? Sight Words are words that cannot be sounded out. They must be memorized. High Frequency words are words that are used frequently. They can be sounded out until they are memorized because of the number of times they will be used in written material. 


I have personally seen many different lists of beginning Sight Words. They vary and seem to depend on the reading curriculum used in a particular classroom. Most are the same, but some may be different, so don’t be concerned about the list you have. Just work on them with your child or student. I’m giving you a list of 20 beginning Sight Words as a starting point. It helps to put them on 3”x 5” note cards and work on only a few at a time. When your child or student can read and spell the first few words, add a few more. I like to read the card to them first and have them repeat the word. We work on the reading of the card first and then the spelling of the word. Sometimes it takes several sessions for just the first group, but don’t give up. They will eventually be successful. Praise them frequently for each small success to keep them motivated. When they master the first set of 20 words – reading and spelling – that is the time for a tangible reward, but keep those rewards small.


Here is the list of 20 Sight Words.


  1. I
  2. the
  3. a
  4. to
  5. you
  6. my
  7. are
  8. is
  9. little
  10. was
  11. for
  12. have
  13. of
  14. they
  15. said
  16. want
  17. here
  18. what
  19. Does


I will be adding a more comprehensive list of Sight Words and High Frequency Words to my Small Bites, Book Two “Teaching Your Child to Read.” My goal is to have this book completed and available on my website by mid-June. 

How to Help Your Child Read with Word Games While Fixing Dinner

February 4, 2025
Many parents know that finding an adequate amount of time to help their children succeed in school is difficult at best. Having been a classroom teacher for more years than I care to admit, I know that as hard as the teacher tries to meet all of the needs of the students in her class, the students that seem to do the best are the ones whose parents are actively involved with their child’s education. So the big question is, “How do I find the time?” When I started teaching, I was not married and had no children. Life was not too complicated. As time went on life changed. With a husband and a child in the picture, I found myself dealing with the role of a teacher and a parent. My child needed extra help just like most other children. I started figuring out ways to help my child while we did other things. One of my favorites was word games. One doesn’t need to be a super multitasker to do these with their child while fixing dinner. Hence: Small Bites. This doesn’t take the place of sitting with your child one-on-one if they are really struggling, but it is a very useful way to keep your child thinking and learning while you are cooking. Game #1 “Rhyming Words” The beauty of this simple game is that it helps a child with reading sounds. If they can read one word with the end sound, it actually opens up a whole chain of words that they will be able to read by just changing out the beginning sound. Maybe your child’s job is to feed the cat, so let’s start by coming up with as many words as you can that rhyme with cat. Remember, they all must have the at sound at the end of the word. (Examples: bat, brat, chat, fat, flat, gnat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, scat, slat, splat, that, vat) If your child feeds the dog, then you can rhyme words with dog. (Examples: bog, clog, fog, frog, grog, hog, jog, log, smog) Goats seem to have become popular again. See how many words you can come up with that rhyme with goat. Notice that all of the words do not end with the same letters: oat and ote . (Examples: bloat, boat, coat, dote, float, gloat, moat, note, oat, quote, smote, throat, tote, vote, wrote) Since I’m on a roll with animals, how about words that rhyme with pig. (Examples: big, brig, dig, fig, gig, jig, rig, sprig, twig, wig, zig) Game #2 “Sounds to Words” This game is intended for beginning readers who are working on putting sounds together to form words. Start by giving 3 or 4 sounds such as / d // o // g /. Have the child repeat back the 3 sounds and then put them together to make the word dog . Obviously, the words are endless, but I’m giving you a few so you can concentrate on fixing dinner. / f // u // n / fun / h // a // t / hat / r // a // t / rat / m // o // m / mom / d // i // g / dig / j // u // m // p / jump / s // w // i // m / swim / r // e // d / red This game can be played until you or the child are tired and want to stop. Sometimes when you are doing word games, it’s better to keep them short, especially at the beginning. The length of the game is totally up to you. Game #3 “Geography Chain” This game is better with children who are a little older, and was one of my family’s favorites. Acceptable answers include the names of: countries, states, provinces (Canada), cities, etc. Set the rules of what’s acceptable before you start. Start with the name of one of the above categories such as: Spain . Because Spain ends with the letter N , the next geographical place would need to start with the letter N , such as New Mexico . This ends with an O , so the next response might be Ontario . Another location that starts with O could be Oregon . We could use New York and so on. Take turns and when someone cannot think of a place to continue the chain, they can drop out if more than 2 are playing or you can start over. Another chain might look something like this: K entucky, Yemen, Nigeria, Alaska, Antarctica, Alpine (city), Escondido (city), Oklahoma, Arkansas, etc. As you can see, many places end with an A or an O . It is helpful if you try to think of places that don’t end with one of these letters. Word to the Wise These untimed interactive games work well for learning math facts also. Through my many years of experience, memorizing addition facts, subtraction facts, multiplication facts, and division facts are a major key in being successful in math. Memorization of multiplication facts are the most important. Without actually memorizing these, all other math becomes tedious and frustrating in elementary school, and we want are kids to love math without the frustration that it can bring. When I have had kids in my classes who are totally frustrated with math, the main cause is not learning multiplication facts by the end of 3 rd grade. If your child is past 3 rd grade and they have not memorized these facts yet, do not despair, it’s never too late to work on this skill.
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