Teaching Sight Words and High Frequency Words
Discover research-based strategies for teaching sight words and high frequency words. Build fluency, confidence, and make learning fun for early readers.
If you’re a teacher right now, you’ve probably felt it too - the constant buzz around the “Science of Reading.” It’s on every podcast, in every PD session, and all over teacher Facebook groups. With so much noise, it’s easy to feel confused about what best practice really looks like in your classroom.
Teaching sight words or high frequency words is still essential for early readers to build fluency and confidence. The Science of Reading isn’t just about decoding! Teachers still need to help their children learn sight words.
So I’m here to answer that question many teachers are asking: “Do I still need to teach sight words?”
The short answer is yes.
BUT - and this is where the Science of Reading matters - sight words should never stand alone. They need to be taught alongside phonics, with strategies that are research-backed, practical, and yes, especially fun!
In this blog post, I’ll give you a comprehensive guide to teaching sight words and high frequency words effectively.
You’ll learn what these words are, why they matter, how to align instruction with the Science of Reading, and the best strategies and activities to teach them effectively.
So, whether you’re a brand-new teacher feeling overwhelmed, or a seasoned educator rethinking old practices, this guide will help you feel confident that you’re doing what’s best for your students. And along the way, I’ll share the activities my kinders beg to play, the pitfalls I’ve seen teachers fall into, and the research that will give you peace of mind that you’re on the right track.
What Are Sight Words and High Frequency Words?
If you’ve been teaching for a while, you’ve probably noticed that sight words and high-frequency words often get talked about as if they’re the same thing. They’re related, but not identical.
Sight words are any words that children can recognise instantly when reading. In the past, teachers were told that these words had to memorised as whole units stored in a mental word bank. Words like the, was, and said were considered impossible to decode and therefore had to be learned through rote memorisation.
But the Science of Reading has changed how we understand sight words. We now know that all words are decoded. Even those we call sight words. They only appear to be recognised “by sight” because the brain has mapped the letter–sound relationships so efficiently that the decoding happens almost instantly. This process is called orthographic mapping.
High-frequency words are simply the words that appear most often in children’s reading and writing. They make up a huge portion of early years texts. In fact, the top ten alone account for around 25% of the words young children read. Lists such as the Dolch Words and the Fry Words were created to capture the most frequently used words in the english language.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Many high-frequency words become sight words because children encounter them so often that they are quickly mapped and recalled with ease.
Not all high-frequency words are tricky or have irregular spelling patterns. Some are easily decoded (and, big, run), while others contain irregular parts that need to be learned “by heart” (said, was, the). These unusual spelling patterns or irregular parts need to be explicitly pointed out during your phonics lessons.
Recent research based on real-life classroom observations confirm that teaching high-frequency words as a set of “special” words to be memorised and separate from phonics instruction, is ineffective for many students. Instead, high-frequency words should always be connected to phonics lessons.
👉 Want a quick reference you can use in your phonics instruction?
You can download the complete Dolch List and Fry List for free in my Resource Library.
Why Learn Sight Words? (The Research-Backed Benefits)
Being able to automatically decode and recognise a bank of high-frequency words gives young readers a huge advantage. Because these words appear so regularly, children need to be able to process them almost instantly. This automaticity doesn’t come from memorisation, but from repeated practice and orthographic mapping - the process of securely storing sound–letter connections in long-term memory (Ehri, 1998).
Building fluency, speed, and confidence
When early readers can decode common words quickly, they become more fluent readers. Fluent reading frees up cognitive space so students can focus on meaning rather than spending all their energy sounding out each word. Research shows that fluency is a critical bridge between decoding and comprehension (Shaywitz, 2003). It’s also a key to building self-confidence. When children read smoothly, they see themselves as capable readers.
Reducing frustration for struggling readers
Without automatic recognition of these essential words, many students (especially emergent readers and struggling readers) hit a wall. They may stumble over the same simple words again and again, leading to frustration and negative attitudes towards reading. As Abadzi (2008) points out, inefficient word recognition can overload working memory and leave little room for comprehension.
Supporting comprehension
Recognising high-frequency words quickly means students can turn their attention to decoding new or unfamiliar words in the text. This makes comprehension easier because children aren’t stuck trying to figure out every single word. As Moats (1999) reminds us, strong word recognition skills form the building blocks of literacy - they provide the solid foundation for a successful reading journey.
A long-term payoff
For early readers, instant recognition of the most common words is an effective tool that sets them up for future success. Fluent readers can engage with more complex texts earlier, while emergent readers build stamina without being bogged down by constant decoding. Over time, this leads to more positive experiences with books and a stronger identity as a reader.
In short, the benefits of teaching sight words through decoding-based instruction are clear:
It accelerates fluency and accuracy.
It reduces frustration and cognitive overload.
It builds confidence and supports comprehension.
Automatic recognition of these high-frequency words is not about memorising whole words, but about helping children connect letters to sounds again and again until those words are stored for instant recall. This is what allows them to read with ease and joy.
The Science of Reading and Sight Words
With the growing emphasis on the Science of Reading, many teachers are rethinking how they approach sight words. The research is clear: children don’t store words as whole visual units. Instead, they use a process called orthographic mapping - linking the sounds (phonemes) they already know to the letters and spelling patterns (graphemes) on the page. Once these connections are established, the word becomes stored for instant retrieval.
Why not “look-say”?
For decades, sight words were taught through rote memorisation. You probably know the old “look-say” method. Children were shown a word repeatedly until it was recognised on sight. While this approach worked for some, it left many others behind. Struggling readers, and particularly those with dyslexia, found memorisation without decoding to be ineffective and frustrating. They were often left with gaps in their reading development that made it hard to progress.
Why Phonics + Sight words Work Together
The Science of Reading shows us that systematic phonics instruction combined with teaching high-frequency words is essential. When children are guided to notice the decodable parts of a word and then taught the irregular parts explicitly, the word can be securely stored through orthographic mapping. This not only helps them read that word, but it strengthens their ability to decode unfamiliar words in the future.
External reference: Reading Rockets offers an excellent overview of this new model for teaching high-frequency words, showing why moving beyond memorisation is critical.
👉 Want to learn more? I explore this further in my post: Should We Teach the Kindergarten First 100 Sight Words?
What’s the Difference? Sight Words vs High-Frequency Words
It’s no wonder teachers often feel confused. The terms sight words and high-frequency words are frequently used as if they mean the same thing.
While there’s overlap, they’re not identical. Here’s a clear breakdown you can use in your own phonics instruction:
Sight Words
Any words a reader can recognise instantly, without having to sound them out.
Recognition comes from orthographic mapping, not memorisation.
Can include both regularly spelled words and irregular words with unusual patterns.
Example: once a child has practised enough, words like dog or said can both become sight words.
High-Frequency Words
The most common words that appear in children’s texts — the lists of high-frequency words you may know from the Dolch list or the Fry word list.
These words are introduced in early years because of their frequency of use. The top 10 alone make up about 25% of all words in beginner texts.
High-frequency word instruction should be tied to your phonics program, so students can connect what they already know about sound–letter relationships.
Within a high-frequency word list, some words are easily decodable (and, big, run), while others have tricky or irregular parts (said, was, the).
The Overlap
Many high-frequency words eventually become sight words, because they’re practised so often that they’re decoded quickly and stored for instant recall.
But not every sight word is high frequency. A student might know a lower-frequency word like kangaroo “by sight” once it’s been mapped securely.
This is why the new model of high-frequency word instruction recommends linking words to spelling patterns rather than teaching them in isolation or just by order of frequency.
👉 Classroom tip: Incorporate high-frequency words into decodable sentences, use sound boxes to highlight the part of the word that’s irregular, and embed them as a natural part of your phonics lessons. This kind of direct instruction helps to make the words meaningful and accessible to all students - especially struggling or emergent readers.
Sight Words vs High-Frequency Words
👉 Teaching takeaway: Use a new model of high-frequency word instruction — connect words to phonics patterns, highlight irregular parts using tools like sound boxes, and practise them in decodable sentences as a natural part of your phonics program.
When and How To Teach Sight Words?
Teaching sight words is one part of an effective reading program. The teaching of sight words alone does not develop phonological awareness or skills in decoding phonetically. You can find out more about the importance of phonological awareness and phonics in the blog post HERE.
At What Age Should You Teach Sight Words?
For most kindergarten students (Prep/Foundation), sight words are introduced once children have a basic knowledge of letter names and sounds. This typically means after they’ve mastered their first words through CVC patterns with short vowels (cat, dog, sit).
By the end of Foundation and into first grade, students should be working on both decodable words and common high-frequency words that appear in their early readers. The goal is to tie new words directly into phonics lessons so that recognition comes from decoding practice rather than memorisation.
In second grade, instruction shifts towards more complex words, including those with long vowels, vowel teams, and more advanced spelling patterns. By third grade and beyond that, most students in the primary grades have a large bank of automatically recognised words, but some still need targeted support with irregular words or less common patterns.
👉 The key is not the grade level itself but where each child is in their reading journey. Some emergent readers need more time with the basics, while fluent readers are ready to move ahead.
Four Steps to Teaching Sight Words Effectively
Introduce with a phonics connection - Link each word to what students already know. Highlight the regular, decodable parts first, then draw attention to the irregular letter or letters that don’t match expected sounds.
Use multi-sensory repetition - Let students trace, tap, build, or write the word while saying the sounds aloud. Using movement and multiple senses helps lock the mapping into memory.
Provide contextual practice in texts - Place the words in decodable sentences and stories that match your phonics program. This helps children see the word in action rather than as an isolated item on a list.
Reinforce with games and play - Young learners thrive when learning feels fun. The best way to teach sight words and high frequency words? Use quick-response activities, card games, and movement-based challenges to give them repeated practice without it feeling like drill.
Finding the Balance
As with most things in the classroom, effective high-frequency word instruction is about striking the right balance:
Direct instruction for mapping the sounds and irregular parts of the word.
Playful practice through hands-on activities that keep students engaged.
When we combine the two, children in grades K–2 are far more likely to build a strong foundation for reading fluency and just as importantly - enjoy the process along the way.
Research-Based Strategies for Struggling Readers
Even with strong phonics instruction in place, some children simply don’t retain high-frequency words as quickly as their peers. As an early childhood teacher, I’ve seen plenty of individual readers who can decode isolated words beautifully, but stall when it comes to recognising them in sentences. These students need more than just repeated exposure. They need deliberate, research-based support.
Repeated Exposure Through Phoneme–Grapheme Mapping
For struggling or emergent readers, orthographic mapping is so important. No child should be asked to memorise whole words. Instead, guide them to connect each letter or letter group with its sound. Highlight the parts that follow expected patterns and the irregular parts that must be learned “by heart.” Revisiting these words across multiple lessons helps the mapping stick.
Multi-Sensory Approaches
Multi-sensory strategies make a real difference for children who need extra support.
Tactile: tracing letters in sand, clay, or on textured cards.
Kinesthetic: sky-writing the letters, clapping out sounds, or jumping to segment phonemes.
Visual–Auditory: colour-coding the “tricky” part of a word while saying it aloud.
These methods give the brain extra pathways for remembering new words and irregular spellings.
Small-Group Intervention Tips
Some students thrive when pulled into small groups for more intensive practice. Keep the sessions short, structured, and active. Focus on just two or three words at a time and revisit them often. And provide meaningful reading materials where those words reappear in context. Embedding high-frequency words into decodable sentences ensures they’re not practised in isolation.
Something that really stuck with me from a piece of professional development I attended was about the overall goal. It isn’t at all about getting children to recall a word in a drill. It’s ALL about getting them to apply their decoding in authentic texts. Whether that’s a class reader, a science passage, or even a social studies text, the real progress happens when students use the words purposefully.
Encouraging Critical Thinkers
Struggling readers don’t just need practice; they need encouragement to become critical thinkers about words. Ask them questions like:
Which part of this word follows the rules we know?
Which letter here is the tricky part?
How can we use what we know about sounds to remember this word?
By involving them in analysing words you give them a strategy they can use with every new word they encounter.
👉 Supporting struggling readers isn’t about working harder and doing more of what didn’t work the first time. It’s about working smarter! With the right strategies, both you and your students can feel the joy of progress - and that’s what I call happy teaching.
Engaging, Play-Based Strategies for Teaching Sight Words
We know now that the brain doesn’t store words as pictures. Children need phonics instruction to map sounds to letters, and then they need repeated practice until those words become automatic.
The problem is that traditional memorisation is downright ineffective (and boring).
So we need to make practice playful and fun!
When sight word learning is embedded in games, children get lots of practice (which they need) without it feeling like a boring drill. The right activities will have them laughing, moving, and fully engaged – and at the same time - reinforcing decoding and building fluency.
One of my classroom favourites is Snowball Fight. Students throw crumpled-up “snowballs” with words written inside, then race to read the word they pick up. It’s fast, noisy, and they never want it to end!! But beneath all the fun, they’re practising some of those essential high frequency words.
👉 And that’s just one example. In the next section, I’ll share more of the games my students ask for again and again, plus a resource that will give you an entire year’s worth of ready-to-go activities.
Sight Word Games and Activities That Actually Work
After years in the classroom, I know one thing for sure: when sight word practice feels like a boring drill, the children quickly switch off. But when it feels like play, they’ll happily practise the same new words a lot of times - and that’s exactly what they need for those words to stick.
That’s why I created my 47 Sight Word Games and Activities. This resource is packed with engaging, low-prep ideas that align with the Science of Reading.
Because – as we now know, children need lots of practice in a fun way that feels like play rather than work.
Why Teachers Love This Pack
Builds fluency: Students move from slow decoding to automatic word recognition.
Active learning: Games get children out of their seats, clapping, stomping, and moving while they learn.
Collaboration: Many activities can be played in pairs or small groups, encouraging teamwork and peer learning.
Low-prep: Just print, pop them on a word ring or word wall, and you’re ready to go.
My Tried and Tested Favourites
1. Snowball Fight: Write each word onto a piece of paper and crumple each one up into a ball to make a sight word snowball. Give each child one or two snowballs to throw around the room. After about 30 seconds, children stop and open the snowballs closest to them to read the words. These snowballs can be reused. Loud, silly, and unforgettable.
2. Sight Word Stomp: The children sit in a circle. The sight words are written onto cards and randomly placed on the floor inside the circle. The teacher sits in the circle between any 2 children. These 2 children stand. The teacher says one of the sight words on the cards within the circle. The first child to race and stomp on the correct word is the winner. Both children return to their places within the circle. The winning child stays standing ready to compete against the next competitor. The next competitor is the child sitting right next to the losing child. This competitor stands and races against the current winner to find the next word said by the teacher. The game continues around the circle until everyone has had a turn and you have the grand champion. It’s competitive, fast-paced, and a great way to keep everyone engaged.
3. Milkshake: This game is similar to the traditional game of Hangman. When a child misses a letter of the sight word, you draw a line (the base of a milkshake glass). That's followed by a longer horizontal line joined to the base (one side of the glass), then the other side of the glass. Next you draw the curved top of the glass (the front rim) and then the straight top of the glass (the back rim). For the next mistake, draw a line across the middle of the glass (to represent the milkshake in the glass). There are only 2 lines left making a bent straw in the milkshake. The laughter is just as big as the learning.
And that’s only the beginning. With 47 games in total, this pack includes everything from simple partner games to whole-class activities. It’s a great way to keep sight word practice fresh across the whole year.
More Than Just Games
This pack isn’t about rote learning though.
It’s about creating meaningful, engaging opportunities for your children to practise high-frequency words until they become automatic. You’ll find activities that work perfectly with class books, sight word books, or word walls, and others designed for quick-response review. Whatever your style, there’s something here that will save you time and bring joy to your classroom.
👉 Ready to make sight word practice easy, effective, and fun? Grab my 47 Sight Word Games and Activities today and give your students the solid foundation they need for confident reading.
Making Sight Word Teaching Simple, Fun, and Effective
Sight words still matter. They’re the essential building blocks that help young readers move from sounding out every letter to reading with fluency and confidence.
But as the Science of Reading reminds us, the most effective approach isn’t rote memorisation! It’s connecting words to phonics, highlighting tricky parts, and giving young children repeated opportunities to practise until recognition is more automatic.
Throughout this blog post, we’ve looked at what sight words and high-frequency words really are, why they matter, and how to teach them in ways that are research-based, practical, and engaging. We’ve explored strategies for struggling readers, playful activities that make learning stick, and classroom-tested games that bring joy to your daily practice.
And here’s the transformation you’ll see: instead of feeling stressed, confused, or stuck using outdated methods, you will feel confident and equipped with powerful strategies that make a real difference. You’ll not only build a solid foundation for literacy in your classroom, but you’ll also experience the joy of seeing your students succeed!
👉 Ready to take the stress out of sight word instruction?
Make teaching sight words and high frequency words fun and effortless with my complete set of 47 Sight Word Games and Activities – an effective resource you’ll use again and again to support your students’ reading journey.