Both complete lists are on this page, free to print — the Dolch 220 (plus the 95 Dolch nouns) and Fry’s first 300 words. Any level here becomes 30 unique sight word bingo cards in about 30 seconds: copy the words, then make sight word bingo cards from your list.
Dolch or Fry — which list should you use?
| List | Who made it | Size | Organised by | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolch | Edward W. Dolch (1936) | 220 service words, plus 95 nouns | Grade band (pre-primer through third grade) | K–2 |
| Fry | Edward Fry | 1,000 words (first 300 below) | Frequency of use in print | K–5 |
Dolch groups its words by the grade a child is expected to know them by, which makes it easy to pick a level and move on. Fry instead orders words by how often they actually appear in print, so its first hundred words are the highest-value words to learn first regardless of grade — useful for an older or catch-up reader who doesn’t need the grade-band structure.
The complete Dolch list by level
Pre-primer (40 words). a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
Primer (52 words). 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
First grade (41 words). after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when
Second grade (46 words). always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don’t, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
Third grade (41 words). about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm
That’s 40 + 52 + 41 + 46 + 41 = 220 words across the five levels.
Already found the level you need? Go ahead and make sight word bingo cards from your list now — the Fry list below is there if you’d rather work from a frequency-ordered set instead of Dolch’s grade bands.
Dolch nouns (95 words). apple, baby, back, ball, bear, bed, bell, bird, birthday, boat, box, boy, bread, brother, cake, car, cat, chair, chicken, children, Christmas, coat, corn, cow, day, dog, doll, door, duck, egg, eye, farm, farmer, father, feet, fire, fish, floor, flower, game, garden, girl, goodbye, grass, ground, hand, head, hill, home, horse, house, kitty, leg, letter, man, men, milk, money, morning, mother, name, nest, night, paper, party, picture, pig, rabbit, rain, ring, robin, Santa Claus, school, seed, sheep, shoe, sister, snow, song, squirrel, stick, street, sun, table, thing, time, top, toy, tree, watch, water, way, wind, window, wood
The Fry list, first 300 words
Fry’s full list runs to ten groups of 100 (1,000 words in total); here are the first three hundred, the ones most classrooms use first.
First hundred (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
Second hundred (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
Third hundred (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
Turn any list into bingo cards in thirty seconds
- Copy one level from above (or your own spelling list — any list of words works).
- Paste it into the bingo card generator.
- Choose 4x4 (16 words, no free space) for pre-primer and primer; 5x5 (24 words plus a free space) for first grade and up.
- Print 30 unique cards, plus the matching call sheet.
How many words each grid needs
| Grid | Words needed |
|---|---|
| 3x3 | 8, plus a free space |
| 4x4 | 16 |
| 5x5 | 24, plus a free space |
Keep your word pool at roughly 1.5× the grid size or cards start repeating across the class: a 24-square card wants 36 or more words to stay comfortably varied. Dolch primer (52 words) is comfortable at that ratio; pre-primer (40 words) is workable but tighter.
Why some words get memorised instead of sounded out
Most reading instruction is phonics-first: children learn to decode a word from its letters and sounds. Sight words exist alongside that, not instead of it — the words on the Dolch and Fry lists were chosen because either they don’t follow regular phonics rules cleanly (like “said” or “was”), or they show up so often that decoding them from scratch every time slows a young reader down. Recognising them instantly frees attention for the parts of a sentence that do need sounding out. That’s also why both lists mix truly irregular words with perfectly regular ones (“run”, “get”, “big”) — frequency, not just irregularity, earns a word a place on either list.
Running sight word bingo with a whole class
A single set of 30 cards covers a class of 30 in one pass, but the format also scales down to a reading group or up to a whole-grade assembly by printing more sets from the same word list — the generator has no card-count limit. For a full-class session, print one card per student plus two or three spares for late arrivals, agree the win condition before you start (one line moves faster through a lesson block; blackout fills a longer session), and keep a laminated call sheet at the front so the caller never loses their place. Classroom bingo sets built specifically for whole-class play — with larger print runs and a call sheet designed for reading aloud — are on the way for exactly this use case.
Five ways to play beyond straight bingo
- Teacher calls the word — the standard version, read straight from the call sheet.
- Teacher reads a sentence with the word missing — students find and mark the missing word, which checks reading in context, not just recognition.
- Students cover every word they can read in ten seconds — a quick fluency check rather than a full game.
- Partner play with one caller — pairs take turns calling for each other, useful when you don’t have a whole-class block of time.
- “Beat the teacher” blackout — the class plays to a full card while the teacher marks their own; if the class finishes first, the whole class wins.
Sight word bingo at home and in small groups
The same lists and the same generator work just as well for one child or a small tutoring group — print one card per player (plus a spare), agree a target (one line, or the full card), and play the same way. A parent or older sibling can call instead of a teacher.
Telling when a word is actually mastered
Bingo checks recognition under time pressure, which is a useful signal but not the only one. A word is usually considered learned once a child can read it instantly, out of context and without sounding it out, on more than one occasion spread across different days — a single correct card during one game session isn’t enough to retire a word from practice. Many teachers keep a running set of “known” and “still learning” flashcards for this reason, moving a word across only after it holds up cold on a later day, and folding words back into the “still learning” pile if a child hesitates on them again after a break. Rotating a handful of already-known words back into a bingo card alongside newer ones — rather than dropping them completely once “learned” — keeps the mix honest and catches words a child has quietly started forgetting.
A print plan for the school year
Match a level to a term rather than printing everything at once: pre-primer in term one, primer in term two, first grade onward as the year progresses. Laminate the call sheet once per level so it survives the whole term, and reprint only the student cards each time.
FAQ
What are the Dolch sight words?
A list of 220 common English words plus 95 nouns, compiled by educator Edward W. Dolch in 1936. They’re grouped into five grade bands — pre-primer, primer, first, second and third grade — and are words that don’t always sound out phonetically, so most schools teach them by sight instead.
What is the difference between Dolch and Fry?
Dolch (220 words plus 95 nouns) is grouped by grade band and aimed at K–2. Fry (1,000 words, of which the first 300 are above) is ordered by how frequently each word appears in print and is used further up, through about fifth grade.
How many sight words should a kindergartener know?
There’s no single mandated number — the Dolch pre-primer and primer lists (40 and 52 words) are the common kindergarten-through-early-first-grade target, but pacing varies by school and curriculum.
How do I make bingo cards from my own spelling list?
Paste your list into the bingo card generator instead of typing individual words — any list works, not just Dolch or Fry, and you get 30 unique cards from it in under a minute.
Are these lists free to use in my classroom?
Yes. Both the Dolch and Fry lists are long-established, freely reproduced word lists with no exclusive license attached — schools and teachers use and reprint them constantly. Neither this site nor anyone else owns them.
Ready to print? Go ahead and make sight word bingo cards from your list now, or start from a ready-made set: sight word bingo cards, alphabet bingo or back to school bingo. For general printing tips, see the print-at-home guide.