Dr. Edward Fry expanded upon the Dolch Sight Word lists to create the Fry Sight Word Lists, also known as the Fry 1000 Instant Words. According to Dr. Fry’s research:
- 25 words make up approximately 33% of written material (see 25 Most Frequent Fry Sight Words below)
- 100 words make up approximately 50% of written material (see 1st 100 Fry Sight Words below)
- 300 words make up approximately 65% of written material (see 1st 100 Fry Sight Words, 2nd 100 Fry Sight Words and 3rd 100 Fry Sight Words below)
Why are these percentages important? Think about it – that means students that learn the 300 words can read well over half of any book! And so it is essential for kids to be able to immediately recognize and read these high frequency words. When it comes to writing, it would be difficult to compose any sentence that did not include any of these words.
Generally, students are expected to learn the first 100 Fry words in Grade 1, and the second 100 and third Fry words in Grade 2 and Grade 3. The other 700 words should be mastered in Grades 4 and 5.
We have listed all of the Fry sight words below, organized by each 100, a master list of all words organized by 100 that prints on only 2 pages, a list of all 1000 words in alphabetical order and a list of all 1000 words ordered by frequency. There are also separate downloadable printables of each list, which you can put to good use in your classroom or whenever you need to have the lists handy.
25 Most Frequent Fry Sight Words
the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they, I, at, be, this, have, from
1st 100 Fry Sight Words
a, about, all, 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, like, long, look, made, make, many, may, more, my, no, not, now, number, of, oil, on, one, or, other, out, part, people, said, see, she, sit, 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
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
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
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
able, ago, am, among, ball, base, became, behind, boat, box, 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
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
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
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
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
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 in alphabetical order
a, able, about, above, across, act, action, actually, add, addition, adjective, afraid, Africa, after, again, against, age, ago, agreed, ahead, air, all, allow, almost, alone, along, already, also, although, always, am, America, among, amount, an, and, angle, animal, another, answer, any, anything, appear, apple, are, area, arms, army, around, arrived, art, as, ask, at, away
baby, back, bad, ball, bank, base, be, bear, beat, beautiful, became, because, become, bed, been, before, began, begin, behind, being, believe, bell, belong, below, beside, best, better, between, big, bill, birds, bit, black, block, blood, blow, blue, board, boat, body, bones, book, born, both, bottom, bought, box, boy, branches, break, bright, bring, British, broken, brother, brought, brown, build, building, built, burning, business, but, buy, by
called, came, can, cannot, can’t, capital, captain, car, care, carefully, carry, case, cat, catch, cattle, caught, cause, cells, center, cents, century, certain, chance, change, chart, check, chief, child, children, choose, church, circle, city, class, clean, clear, climbed, close, clothes, cloud, coast, cold, color, column, come, common, company, compare, complete, compound, conditions, consider, consonant, contain, continued, control, cook, cool, copy, corn, corner, correct, cost, cotton, could, couldn’t, count, country, course, covered, cows, create, cried, crops, cross, crowd, current, cut
dance, dark, day, dead, deal, death, decided, decimal, deep, describe, desert, design, details, determine, developed, dictionary, did, didn’t, died, difference, different, difficult, direct, direction, discovered, distance, divided, division, do, doctor, does, doesn’t, dog, dollars, done, don’t, door, down, draw, drawing, dress, drive, drop, dry, during
each, early, ears, earth, east, easy, eat, edge, effect, eggs, eight, either, electric, elements, else, end, energy, engine, England, English, enjoy, enough, entered, entire, equal, equation, especially, Europe, even, evening, ever, every, everyone, everything, exactly, example, except, exciting, exercise, expect, experience, experiment, explain, express, eyes
face, fact, factories, factors, fair, fall, family, famous, far, farm, farmers, fast, father, fear, feel, feeling, feet, fell, felt, few, field, fig, fight, figure, filled, finally, find, fine, fingers, finished, fire, first, fish, fit, five, flat, floor, flow, flowers, fly, follow, food, foot, for, force, forest, form, forward, found, four, fraction, France, free, French, fresh, friends, from, front, fruit, full, fun
game, garden, gas, gave, general, get, girl, give, glass, go, God, gold, gone, good, got, government, grass, great, Greek, green, grew, ground, group, grow, guess, gun
had, hair, half, hand, happened, happy, hard, has, hat, have, he, head, hear, heard, heart, heat, heavy, held, help, her, here, high, hill, him, himself, his, history, hit, hoe, hold, hole, home, hope, horse, hot, hours, house, how, however, huge, human, hundred, hunting
I, ice, idea, if, I’ll, important, in, inches, include, increase, Indian, indicate, industry, information, insects, inside, instead, instruments, interest, interesting, into, iron, is, island, isn’t, it, it’s, itself, Japanese, job, joined, jumped, just
keep, kept, key, killed, kind, king, knew, know, known
lady, lake, land, language, large, last, late, laughed, law, lay, lead, learn, least, leave, led, left, legs, length, less, let, let’s, letter, level, lie, life, lifted, light, like, line, list, listen, little, live, located, long, look, lost, lot, loud, love, low
machine, made, main, major, make, mall, man, many, map, march, mark, match, material, matter, may, maybe, me, means, measure, meat, meet, melody, members, men, metal, method, middle, might, mile, milk, million, mind, mine, minutes, miss, modern, molecules, moment, money, months, moon, more, morning, most, mother, mountains, mouth, move, movement, much, music, must, my, name, nation, natural, near, necessary, need, never, new, next, night, no, north, northern, nose, not, note, nothing, notice, noun, now, number, numeral
object, observe, ocean, of, off, office, often, oh, oil, old, on, once, one, only, open, opposite, or, order, other, our, out, outside, over, own, oxygen, page, paint, pair, paper, paragraph, park, part, particular, party, passed, past, pattern, pay, people, per, perhaps, period, person, phrase, picked, picture, piece, place, plains, plan, plane, planets, plant, play, please, plural, poem, point, pole, poor, position, possible, pounds, power, practice, prepared, present, president, pretty, printed, probably, problem, process, produce, products, property, provide, pulled, pushed, put
questions, quickly, quiet, quite
race, radio, rain, raised, ran, rather, reached, read, ready, real, reason, received, record, red, region, remain, remember, repeated, report, represent, rest, result, return, rhythm, rich, ride, right, ring, rise, river, road, rock, rolled, room, root, rope, rose, round, row, rule, run
safe, said, sail, same, sand, sat, save, saw, say, scale, school, science, scientists, score, sea, seat, second, section, see, seeds, seem, seen, sell, send, sense, sent, sentence, separate, serve, set, settled, seven, several, shall, shape, sharp, she, ship, shoes, shop, short, should, shoulder, shouted, show, shown, side, sight, sign, silent, similar, simple, since, sing, single, sir, sister, sit, site, six, size, skin, sky, sleep, slowly, small, smell, smiled, snow, so, soft, soil, soldiers, solution, solve, some, someone, something, sometimes, son, song, soon, sound, south, southern, space, speak, special, speed, spell, spot, spread, spring, square, stand, stars, start, state, statement, stay, steel, step, stick, still, stone, stood, stop, store, story, straight, strange, stream, street, stretched, string, strong, students, study, subject, substances, such, suddenly, suffix, sugar, suggested, sum, summer, sun, supply, suppose, sure, surface, surprise, swim, syllables, symbols, system
table, take, talk, tall, teacher, team, tell, temperature, ten, terms, test, than, that, the, their, them, themselves, then, there, these, they, thick, thin, things, think, third, this, those, though, thought, thousands, three, through, thus, tied, time, tiny, to, today, together, told, tone, too, took, tools, top, total, touch, toward, town, track, trade, train, travel, tree, triangle, trip, trouble, truck, true, try, tube, turn, two, type
uncle, under, underline, understand, unit, until, up, upon, us, use, usually
valley, value, various, verb, very, view, village, visit, voice, vowel, wait, walk, wall, want, war, warm, was, wash, Washington, wasn’t, watch, water, waves, way, we, wear, weather, week, weight, we’ll, well, went, were, west, western, what, wheels, when, where, whether, which, while, white, who, whole, whose, why, wide, wife, wild, will, win, wind, window, wings, winter, wire, wish, with, within, without, woman, women, wonder, won’t, wood, words, work, workers, world, would, wouldn’t, write, written, wrong, wrote
yard, years, yellow, yes, yet, you, young, your, you’re, yourself
All Fry Sight Words listed by frequency
1st 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
the, of, and, a, to, in, is, you, that, it, he, was, for, on, are, as, with, his, they, I, at, be, this, have, from, or, one, had, by, words, but, not, what, all, were, we, when, your, can, said, there, use, an, each, which, she, do, how, their, if, will, up, other, about, out, many, then, them, these, so, some, her, would, make, like, him, into, time, has, look, two, more, write, go, see, number, no, way, could, people, my, than, first, water, been, called, who, oil, sit, now, find, long, down, day, did, get, come, made, may, part
2nd 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
over, new, sound, take, only, little, work, know, place, years, live, me, back, give, most, very, after, things, our, just, name, good, sentence, man, think, say, great, where, help, through, much, before, line, right, too, means, old, any, same, tell, boy, follow, came, want, show, also, around, form, three, small, set, put, end, does, another, well, large, must, big, even, such, because, turn, here, why, ask, went, men, read, need, land, different, home, us, move, try, kind, hand, picture, again, change, off, play, spell, air, away, animal, house, point, page, letter, mother, answer, found, study, still, learn, should, America, world
3rd 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
high, every, near, add, food, between, own, below, country, plant, last, school, father, keep, tree, never, start, city, earth, eyes, light, thought, head, under, story, saw, left,, don’t, few, while, along, might, close, something, seem, next, hard, open, example, begin, life, always, those, both, paper, together, got, group, often, run, important, until, children, side, feet, car, mile, night, walk, white, sea, began, grow, took, river, four, carry, state, once, book, hear, stop, without, second, late, miss, idea, enough, eat, face, watch, far, Indian, real, almost, let, above, girl, sometimes, mountains, cut, young, talk, soon, list, song, being, leave, family, it’s
4th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
body, music, color, stand, sun, questions, fish, area, mark, dog, horse, birds, problem, complete, room, knew, since, ever, piece, told, usually, didn’t, friends, easy, heard, order, red, door, sure, become, top, ship, across, today, during, short, better, best, however, low, hours, black, products, happened, whole, measure, remember, early, waves, reached, listen, wind, rock, space, covered, fast, several, hold, himself, toward, five, step, morning, passed, vowel, true, hundred, against, pattern, numeral, table, north, slowly, money, map, farm, pulled, draw, voice, seen, cold, cried, plan, notice, south, sing, war, ground, fall, king, town, I’ll, unit, figure, certain, field, travel, wood, fire, upon
5th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
done, English, road, half, ten, fly, gave, box, finally, wait, correct, oh, quickly, person, became, shown, minutes, strong, verb, stars, front, feel, fact, inches, street, decided, contain, course, surface, produce, building, ocean, class, note, nothing, rest, carefully, scientists, inside, wheels, stay, green, known, island, week, less, machine, base, ago, stood, plane, system, behind, ran, round, boat, game, force, brought, understand, warm, common, bring, explain, dry, though, language, shape, deep, thousands, yes, clear, equation, yet, government, filled, heat, full, hot, check, object, am, rule, among, noun, power, cannot, able, six, size, dark, ball, material, special, heavy, fine, pair, circle, include, built
6th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
can’t, matter, square, syllables, perhaps, bill, felt, suddenly, test, direction, center, farmers, ready, anything, divided, general, energy, subject, Europe, moon, region, return, believe, dance, members, picked, simple, cells, paint, mind, love, cause, rain, exercise, eggs, train, blue, wish, drop, developed, window, difference, distance, heart, site, sum, summer, wall, forest, probably, legs, sat, main, winter, wide, written, length, reason, kept, interest, arms, brother, race, present, beautiful, store, job, edge, past, sign, record, finished, discovered, wild, happy, beside, gone, sky, grass, million, west, lay, weather, root, instruments, meet, third, months, paragraph, raised, represent, soft, whether, clothes, flowers, shall, teacher, held, describe, drive
7th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
cross, speak, solve, appear, metal, son, either, ice, sleep, village, factors, result, jumped, snow, ride, care, floor, hill, pushed, baby, buy, century, outside, everything, tall, already, instead, phrase, soil, bed, copy, free, hope, spring, case, laughed, nation, quite, type, themselves, temperature, bright, lead, everyone, method, section, lake, iron, within, dictionary, hair, age, amount, scale, pounds, although, per, broken, moment, tiny, possible, gold, milk, quiet, natural, lot, stone, act, build, middle, speed, count, consonant, someone, sail, rolled, bear, wonder, smiled, angle, fraction, Africa, killed, melody, bottom, trip, hole, poor, let’s, fight, surprise, French, died, beat, exactly, remain, dress, cat, couldn’t, fingers
8th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
row, least, catch, climbed, wrote, shouted, continued, itself, else, plains, gas, England, burning, design, joined, foot, law, ears, glass, you’re, grew, skin, valley, cents, key, president, brown, trouble, cool, cloud, lost, sent, symbols, wear, bad, save, experiment, engine, alone, drawing, east, choose, single,touch, information, express, mouth, yard, equal, decimal, yourself, control, practice, report, straight, rise, statement, stick, party, seeds, suppose, woman, coast, bank, period, wire, pay, clean, visit, bit, whose, received, garden, please, strange, caught, fell, team, God, captain, direct, ring, serve, child, desert, increase, history, cost, maybe, business, separate, break, uncle, hunting, flow, lady, students, human, art, feeling
9th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
supply, corner, electric, insects, crops, tone, hit, sand, doctor, provide, thus, won’t, cook, bones, mall, board, modern, compound, mine, wasn’t, fit, addition, belong, safe, soldiers, guess, silent, trade, rather, compare, crowd, poem, enjoy, elements, indicate, except, expect, flat, seven, interesting, sense, string, blow, famous, value, wings, movement, pole, exciting, branches, thick, blood, lie, spot, bell, fun, loud, consider, suggested, thin, position, entered, fruit, tied, rich, dollars, send, sight, chief, Japanese, stream, planets, rhythm, eight, science, major, observe, tube, necessary, weight, meat, lifted, process, army, hat, property, particular, swim, terms, current, park, sell, shoulder, industry, wash, block, spread, cattle, wife, sharp
10th 100 Fry Sight Words by frequency
company, radio, we’ll, action, capital, factories, settled, yellow, isn’t, southern, truck, fair printed, wouldn’t, ahead, chance, born, level, triangle, molecules, France, repeated, column, western, church, sister, oxygen, plural, various, agreed, opposite, wrong, chart, prepared, pretty, solution, fresh, shop, suffix, especially, shoes, actually, nose, afraid, dead, sugar, adjective, fig, office, huge, gun, similar, death, score, forward, stretched, experience, rose, allow, fear, workers, Washington, Greek, women, bought, led, march, northern, create, British, difficult, match, win, doesn’t, steel, total, deal, determine, evening, hoe, rope, cotton, apple, details, entire, corn, substances, smell, tools, conditions, cows, track, arrived, located, sir, seat,division, effect, underline, view
January 22, 2020 at 10:55 pm
Thanks for the list
April 2, 2020 at 12:34 am
Thanks
April 10, 2020 at 3:50 am
Thank you very much!
May 14, 2020 at 9:00 pm
What’s the print password on the top 25 sight words?!
May 15, 2020 at 11:35 am
Apologies – we have fixed it and you can now access and print.