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March 6, 2021

High Frequency Words Part 1: What are they?

Do you know the difference between the term high frequency word and sight word?   Maybe you didn't know they were different terms...but they are.  There IS a difference..... a BIG difference.

Often times teachers use these two words interchangeably.  Or, teachers use the term "sight word" but what they are really describing is a "high frequency word."

No worries....I am here to set the record straight!  And...if you don't know the difference, that's okay!  Many of us weren't ever taught the correct definitions and the terms.  It isn't as though we want to use the wrong words, they have just never been clearly defined for us.  BUT..... after this post you will know.  And...when we know better, we do better! 

So, lets set the record straight!

High frequency words are words that appear often in text.  Edward William Dolch and Dr. Edward Fry both complied two separate lists of words that are commonly used in the English language.  

Dolch published his list of 220 words in 1936.  His list did not originally contain any nouns, but a later addition added 95 nouns to the list.  Dolch's word list is based off of words that students in kindergarten or second grade would typically be reading. The words are usually listed by age group.   

Fry improved upon Dolch's list and published 1000 words in 1957 that included all parts of speech.  These words were based on the "American Heritage Word Frequency Book " which ranked how often  words occurred in reading material for grades 3-9.  The Fry list was updated in 1980.   Fry's list is often segmented into groups of 100.  

It is important to note that these high frequency word lists were created during the whole word movement, and we know that whole word reading is NOT the correct way to teach reading.  Students need explicit and systematic phonics instruction in order to crack the code written language.  With that being said, we still need to teach these words as many of them are used in decodable readers to help make meaningful sentences.  BUT (and it is a BIG BUT) we need to teach these high frequency words explicitly!  Please take the time to read A New Model for Teaching High Frequency Words from Reading Rockets on the correct way to teach high frequency words.  It is an AMAZING read!  The video below is a quick view (2 minutes) on how to teach an irregular high frequency--definitely worth the watch. 


Sight words are words that are instantly and effortlessly recognized by a reader.  The official name for sight words is called the "orthographic lexicon."  Any word can be a sight word for a student, as long as it has been mapped by the reader.

So, what does it mean for a word to be mapped? 

First we must understand that orthographic mapping is a mental process for later instant and effortless retrieval.  Orthographic mapping is a mechanism that builds our sight vocabulary.  

So, how do we map words?

Phonics is the foundation for mapping.  Once students have been explicitly taught alphabetic principle (connecting letters to their sounds) and phonics concepts they are able to decode a word.  When students are decoding a word, orthographic connections are formed.  Students are anchoring a word they have heard spoken, to the written letter sequences at the phoneme (sound) grapheme (print) level.

In a nutshell--oral language is huge.  Phonics needs to be taught explicitly and systematically and kids need to read decodables.   

If you are interested in watching an expert explain orthographic mapping, check out this video from the one and only David Kilpatrick!!



Gosh, I hope that cleared some things up! :) Please stay tuned for future posts about high frequency words.....because there is a lot to cover. :) 

Part 1: High frequency words vs. sight words

Part 2: Irregular words or "heart words"

Part 3: How to master irregular high frequency words

Part 4: Regular high frequency words

Post 5: High frequency word resources


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