Recognizing High-Frequency Sight Words

You have learned to blend CVC words, read digraphs, blends, and silent-e words. But some of the most common words in English do not follow those rules — they must be memorized by sight. We call them sight words or high-frequency words.

What is a sight word?

• A word that appears very often in books and sentences.
• Often it cannot be sounded out using phonics rules — the spelling is irregular.
• Examples: the, was, said, they, have, are, come, some, one, do, you, your.
• Try sounding out "was" using phonics: /w/ /a/ /s/ → you get "wass," not "wuz"! That is why we memorize it.

How to learn sight words

• See it: Look at the whole word shape — notice the tall letters, short letters, and the length.
• Say it: Say the word aloud as you look at it.
• Spell it: Spell it out letter by letter: w-a-s.
• Write it: Write it three times on paper from memory.
• Use it: Put it in a sentence — The dog was big.

Today's 12 sight words

• the · was · said · they · have · are
• come · some · one · do · you · your