Fry Sight Words

The full list of Fry Sight Words is in Spelling Test Buddy. With this list, you can quickly import the 1000 words into your word lists for spelling tests, spelling practice, and to generate custom phonics worksheets and spelling worksheets.

The words are broken down into 40 lists of 25 words each, and organized by the most common to least common words.

What are Fry Sight Words?

Fry Sight Words are a list of the most common 1,000 words in the English language. They are also known as Fry’s Instant Words or high frequency words.

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 the first 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. These words account for around 90% of all words found in typical books, newspapers, and websites.

Many Fry Sight Words overlap with what programs like UFLI Foundations call heart words — high-frequency words that contain irregular spellings. The difference is instructional: while Fry words are traditionally taught through whole-word memorization, the heart word method teaches students to sound out the regular parts and only memorize the tricky letters. Both approaches target the same essential vocabulary.

Create online spelling tests with Fry Sight Words

Do you want to provide digital spelling tests on each of the Fry Sight Words lists? Spelling Test Buddy lets you use any or all of these word lists as a part of your spelling curriculum.

Simply log in and navigate to 📓 Word Lists. Create or Edit a list, and when given the option to add words, from the “Pick a word list” dropdown, select any of the four categories of Fry Sight Words:

Once you pick a category, you can then choose any of the specific lists, then tap “Yes, add them” to add the words to your list:

Generate customized spelling and phonics worksheets with Fry Sight Words

Do you want to generate word lists for flash cards, sound sorts, pattern sorts, “Draw and Label” worksheets, “Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check” worksheets, “Trace, Copy, Cover, Write” worksheets, word hunt, cloze (fill in the blank) worksheets, and more?

Simply find the word list you want to use below, then tap on “Generate Worksheet” to get started. This will take you to Worksheet Creator.

You then pick the worksheet template you want to use, edit your list of words, and generate your worksheet.

Then, print, download, or share your worksheet.