Fry Word Lists

All the Fry sight word lists, divided into groups of 100, also available as printable PDFs. More

Fry Sight Word Lessons

Five techniques for teaching Fry sight words. Learn proven ways to introduce words, reinforce learning, and correct mistakes. More

Fry Flash Cards

Print a set of Fry sight word flash cards, or use our generator to create your own custom cards. More

Fry Sight Word Games

Print cards and game boards for 18 Fry sight word games. A fun way to reinforce sight words lessons! More

The Fry Sight Words list is a more modern list of words than the Dolch list, and was extended to capture the most common 1,000 words. Dr. Edward Fry developed this expanded list in the 1950s (and updated it in 1980), based on the most common words to appear in reading materials used in Grades 3-9. Learning all 1,000 words in the Fry list would equip a child to read about 90% of the words in a typical book, newspaper, or website.

The Fry words are listed by the frequency with which they occur and are often broken down into groups of 100. So the first 100 Fry words are the 100 most frequently occurring words in the English language.

Fry Word Lists

  • 1st 100 Fry Sight Words (#1-100) a, about, all, am, an, and, are, as, at, be, been, but, by, called, can, come, could, day, did, do, down, each, find, first, for, from, get, go, had, has, have, he, her, him, his, how, I, if, in, into, is, it, its, like, long, look, made, make, many, may, more, my, no, not, now, number, of, on, one, or, other, out, part, people, said, see, she, so, some, than, that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, time, to, two, up, use, was, water, way, we, were, what, when, which, who, will, with, words, would, write, you, your
  • 2nd 100 Fry Sight Words (#101-200) after, again, air, also, America, animal, another, answer, any, around, ask, away, back, because, before, big, boy, came, change, different, does, end, even, follow, form, found, give, good, great, hand, help, here, home, house, just, kind, know, land, large, learn, letter, line, little, live, man, me, means, men, most, mother, move, much, must, name, need, new, off, old, only, our, over, page, picture, place, play, point, put, read, right, same, say, sentence, set, should, show, small, sound, spell, still, study, such, take, tell, things, think, three, through, too, try, turn, us, very, want, well, went, where, why, work, world, years
  • 3rd 100 Fry Sight Words (#201-300) above, add, almost, along, always, began, begin, being, below, between, book, both, car, carry, children, city, close, country, cut, don’t, earth, eat, enough, every, example, eyes, face, family, far, father, feet, few, food, four, girl, got, group, grow, hard, head, hear, high, idea, important, Indian, it’s, keep, last, late, leave, left, let, life, light, list, might, mile, miss, mountains, near, never, next, night, often, once, open, own, paper, plant, real, river, run, saw, school, sea, second, seem, side, something, sometimes, song, soon, start, state, stop, story, talk, those, thought, together, took, tree, under, until, walk, watch, while, white, without, young
  • 4th 100 Fry Sight Words (#301-400) across, against, area, become, best, better, birds, black, body, certain, cold, color, complete, covered, cried, didn’t, dog, door, draw, during, early, easy, ever, fall, farm, fast, field, figure, fire, fish, five, friends, ground, happened, heard, himself, hold, horse, hours, however, hundred, I’ll, king, knew, listen, low, map, mark, measure, money, morning, music, north, notice, numeral, order, passed, pattern, piece, plan, problem, products, pulled, questions, reached, red, remember, rock, room, seen, several, ship, short, since, sing, slowly, south, space, stand, step, sun, sure, table, today, told, top, toward, town, travel, true, unit, upon, usually, voice, vowel, war, waves, whole, wind, wood
  • 5th 100 Fry Sight Words (#401-500) able, ago, among, ball, base, became, behind, boat, box, bread, bring, brought, building, built, cannot, carefully, check, circle, class, clear, common, contain, correct, course, dark, decided, deep, done, dry, English, equation, explain, fact, feel, filled, finally, fine, fly, force, front, full, game, gave, government, green, half, heat, heavy, hot, inches, include, inside, island, known, language, less, machine, material, minutes, note, nothing, noun, object, ocean, oh, pair, person, plane, power, produce, quickly, ran, rest, road, round, rule, scientists, shape, shown, six, size, special, stars, stay, stood, street, strong, surface, system, ten, though, thousands, understand, verb, wait, warm, week, wheels, yes, yet
  • 6th 100 Fry Sight Words (#501-600) anything, arms, beautiful, believe, beside, bill, blue, brother, can’t, cause, cells, center, clothes, dance, describe, developed, difference, direction, discovered, distance, divided, drive, drop, edge, eggs, energy, Europe, exercise, farmers, felt, finished, flowers, forest, general, gone, grass, happy, heart, held, instruments, interest, job, kept, lay, legs, length, love, main, matter, meet, members, million, mind, months, moon, paint, paragraph, past, perhaps, picked, present, probably, race, rain, raised, ready, reason, record, region, represent, return, root, sat, shall, sign, simple, site, sky, soft, square, store, subject, suddenly, sum, summer, syllables, teacher, test, third, train, wall, weather, west, whether, wide, wild, window, winter, wish, written
  • 7th 100 Fry Sight Words (#601-700) act, Africa, age, already, although, amount, angle, appear, baby, bear, beat, bed, bottom, bright, broken, build, buy, care, case, cat, century, consonant, copy, couldn’t, count, cross, dictionary, died, dress, either, everyone, everything, exactly, factors, fight, fingers, floor, fraction, free, French, gold, hair, hill, hole, hope, ice, instead, iron, jumped, killed, lake, laughed, lead, let’s, lot, melody, metal, method, middle, milk, moment, nation, natural, outside, per, phrase, poor, possible, pounds, pushed, quiet, quite, remain, result, ride, rolled, sail, scale, section, sleep, smiled, snow, soil, solve, someone, son, speak, speed, spring, stone, surprise, tall, temperature, themselves, tiny, trip, type, village, within, wonder
  • 8th 100 Fry Sight Words (#701-800) alone, art, bad, bank, bit, break, brown, burning, business, captain, catch, caught, cents, child, choose, clean, climbed, cloud, coast, continued, control, cool, cost, decimal, desert, design, direct, drawing, ears, east, else, engine, England, equal, experiment, express, feeling, fell, flow, foot, garden, gas, glass, God, grew, history, human, hunting, increase, information, itself, joined, key, lady, law, least, lost, maybe, mouth, party, pay, period, plains, please, practice, president, received, report, ring, rise, row, save, seeds, sent, separate, serve, shouted, single, skin, statement, stick, straight, strange, students, suppose, symbols, team, touch, trouble, uncle, valley, visit, wear, whose, wire, woman, wrote, yard, you’re, yourself
  • 9th 100 Fry Sight Words (#801-900) addition, army, bell, belong, block, blood, blow, board, bones, branches, cattle, chief, compare, compound, consider, cook, corner, crops, crowd, current, doctor, dollars, eight, electric, elements, enjoy, entered, except, exciting, expect, famous, fit, flat, fruit, fun, guess, hat, hit, indicate, industry, insects, interesting, Japanese, lie, lifted, loud, major, mall, meat, mine, modern, movement, necessary, observe, park, particular, planets, poem, pole, position, process, property, provide, rather, rhythm, rich, safe, sand, science, sell, send, sense, seven, sharp, shoulder, sight, silent, soldiers, spot, spread, stream, string, suggested, supply, swim, terms, thick, thin, thus, tied, tone, trade, tube, value, wash, wasn’t, weight, wife, wings, won’t
  • 10th 100 Fry Sight Words (#901-1000) action, actually, adjective, afraid, agreed, ahead, allow, apple, arrived, born, bought, British, capital, chance, chart, church, column, company, conditions, corn, cotton, cows, create, dead, deal, death, details, determine, difficult, division, doesn’t, effect, entire, especially, evening, experience, factories, fair, fear, fig, forward, France, fresh, Greek, gun, hoe, huge, isn’t, led, level, located, march, match, molecules, northern, nose, office, opposite, oxygen, plural, prepared, pretty, printed, radio, repeated, rope, rose, score, seat, settled, shoes, shop, similar, sir, sister, smell, solution, southern, steel, stretched, substances, suffix, sugar, tools, total, track, triangle, truck, underline, various, view, Washington, we’ll, western, win, women, workers, wouldn’t, wrong, yellow
  • All Fry Sight Words by group
  • All Fry Sight Words in order of frequency
  • All Fry Sight Words in alphabetical order

40 Responses to “Fry Sight Words List”

  1. Margaret Landry

    I am volunteering with children whose primary language at home is not English. We are using the sight words but also would like to work with helping them make sentences with these words. Do you have any handouts which would help? Thank you, Margaret

    Reply
  2. Danielle

    Hi Margaret,

    Teachers pay Teachers have tons of free resources. 🙂

    Danielle

    Reply
  3. Maribel

    hi Margaret, thank you for this… i’m from Philippines and I volunteer to tutor an elementary pupils who can’t read…. this will help me.. thank you..

    Reply
  4. medhanie gebeyehu

    I am very grateful to Dr. Fry for his highly regarded research and immensely important teaching and learning techniques. I found the groupings enormously helpful.

    Reply
  5. Danielle Edward

    I am getting better at reading by using the Fry and Dolch word lists. Thank you so much! Hugs, Danielle/GMA

    Reply
  6. Dana R. Casey

    Can you provide any links or titles of scholarly studies that I can use with admin to support this as a proven and effective teaching practice?

    ADMIN – Hi Dana,

    Take a look at the Research Bibliography section of our Sight Words Introduction page. We have listed several books and articles that have informed the development of our sight words teaching strategies.

    Reply
  7. Pioria Asito

    Thank you so much for these resources. My 10 yr. old twins (Jalen and Jaden) are now able to recognize simple words and read them. With continuing practices every evening, I hope to introduce them to more words. Again, thank you!!

    Reply
  8. Abdo Muhammad

    wooondeerfulllllll
    I really like it .
    thaaaaaaaaaaaaanks

    Reply
  9. Yoda

    This is AWESOME!!!! Thank you for so much resources!!!!!!!!!!!
    I’m a student from China and because of this, i can go to America and study!!!!!
    again… THANK YOU!!!!!

    Reply
  10. Yoda

    This a wonderful resource. Thank you!

    Reply
  11. Annie

    Thanks a bunch. I pull it up on my smart board and read with my class daily.

    Reply
  12. Pamela Green

    What does it mean if your first grader knows all 1000 fry words?

    ADMIN – Hi Pamela,

    Knowing all 1,000 fry sight words would be very unusual for a first grader! It could indicate a gift in verbal intelligence.

    Reply
    • PJ Karpstein

      My 1st grader knows the first 1000 words. Where do I go from here?

      Reply
  13. kathy

    Can you break these down by grade level for me? End of K, how many should they know? End of 1st, end of 2nd, and so on? This is for for K – 5 alignment purposes. Thank you.

    Reply
  14. Michelle Johnson

    I am going to start using these games to help my child read better.

    Reply
  15. Joanna b.

    I am a retired teacher, I do Sub for a few schools in my District. I used these list in a PowerPoint, set on a timer. My students like to see who could learn the most words. So they could go onto the next 100 words. I had EEL students in my room each year.
    I also had other students help the EEL students. They became Peer Teachers, they loved the idea they could teach others.
    Now I’m beginning to utilize for my 2 yr old grandson, a few minutes each day.

    Reply
  16. blanca flor velasco baisa

    Thank you madam. This is what I need to tutor my grade 1 son. I’m from Philippines.

    Reply
  17. Heena

    Thanks a ton. I am sure this will be helpful for my students.

    Reply
  18. TTerry

    What grade level is each group on?

    Reply
  19. Charlton

    This question is for everyone. Is there another series of site words for third graders? I am looking for the next 1000 most frequently used words for a third grader. Thanks for any suggestions.
    Charlton

    Reply
  20. samuel

    Came for the list. Stayed for all the sight words printables. This is too cool.

    Reply
  21. Barbara Bush

    THANKS!! 😀

    Reply
  22. Namraton

    These are the perfect materials for improving reading. They are research back, easy, and fun. Thank you for making these.

    Reply
  23. Tiffany

    Hello,
    Does the list that says 1st imply those are the ones to master in 1st grade? Or am I misinterpreting this list. If this is true, what is expected to be mastered in Kindergarten?
    Thank you,
    Tiffany

    Reply
  24. JENNARAE RAMONEDA PEPITO

    CAN YOU TELL ME HOW TO FIND THE SIGHT WORDS FOR GRADE 3?

    Reply
  25. Christi

    Do you have a sight words list organized by level of difficulty?

    Reply
  26. MathMom

    My kids have improved on their reading because of these words. We play so many games with these words now.

    Reply
  27. Sylvia Canner

    What list is after the 10th 100 Fry words?

    Reply
  28. Cory Baker

    My first grader was a kindergartener at the start of the school year and got moved up to 1st grade – he has finished all 1000 sight words and I was wondering where or if there are another 1000?

    Reply
  29. Megan

    On the first grade list (1st 100 Fry words), there are two mistakes: “oil” and “sit” should be “am” and “its”.

    Reply
    • sapphire

      she is right

      ADMIN – Hi, Sapphire. Yes, Megan was right (thanks again for catching that)! Please refer to our updated PDF file here . We’ve replaced oil and sit with am and its. Cheers.

      Reply
  30. sapphire

    I am going to say that is app is good for kids that need help, and there are more apps that can help kids. This app is one. Thank you to everyone that is posting things for kids. And kids, you are doing good, because some kids don’t even have a apps like this. And kids, it might be hard to learn. It’s okay because you are not alone. Thank you to all the teachers here. I am a kid, so I know it’s sometimes hard. Okay, thank you.

    ADMIN – We are happy to help you. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Bella

      Don’t forget to read and ask a question. For example, why are some Fry words mixed with different words? Some kids that like the old words are getting new words, and I am a kid and I know both versions. Okay, thank you everyone, and do you what you want and help the world.

      Reply
  31. Sarah

    Is “am” suppose to be in 1st and 5th lists?

    ADMIN – Hi Sarah, Thank you for catching and pointing that out! We’ve replaced “am” on this list as well as on the PDF file with “bread”, the correct word. We’ll also check on any affected flash cards soon and do the necessary updates as well. Cheers.

    Reply
  32. Sumam Jospeh

    This is such a lovely collection. Neatly presented. Thank you.

    Reply
  33. Melissa

    Thanks this is the best.

    Reply
  34. Cathy

    Thanks for sharing. Godbless.

    Reply
  35. Alasya

    Thank you so much for the help. I didn’t know there were 1,000 fry sight words! I have a little sister in 1st grade, who, is learning how to read and write. This was very helpful. I’m also a kid, who, is in 5th grade, that is helping my little sister in reading and writing, and this will really help her in reading and writing.
    again… Thanks for the help. : )

    Reply

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