Fry First 100 Sight Words: Free List by Frequency

What you'll need

• 100 index cards or sturdy paper slips, cut to playing-card size
• One thick dark marker (black or dark blue, nothing fancy)
• 4 envelopes, sandwich bags, or labeled rubber bands — one per set of 25
• A shallow tray of table salt or fine sand (for the tracing routine)
• A kitchen timer or phone timer
• A toy mailbox or shoebox with a slot, plus a few toy houses or labeled spots (for the Mailbox Words game)
• A paper ladder drawing or 25 painter's-tape rungs on a low wall (for the ladder game)

How to do it

1. 1

   Build the 100-card deck in frequency order. The Fry first 100 sight words are the 100 most frequent words in written English, ranked by how often they appear, from the "Fry Instant Word List" created by reading researcher Edward B. Fry — the first 100 account for roughly half of all the text in typical books, newspapers, and websites, which is why teachers love them. Sit down together and make the cards before any learning starts — kids value what they help build. Write each word once, big and lowercase, in the exact order of the set list at the end of this step. Don't shuffle them. The frequency order is the teaching plan: the most useful words come first, so every new set unlocks more reading than the last. Pencil the rank number on the back of each card (1 for the, 100 for part). Sort into the four sets of 25 — the Fry 25s — because 25 is a finish line a four-year-old can actually believe in. Rubber-band each set, and show your child only set 1: "These are the 25 most-used words in the whole English language. You're going to learn all 25." Set 1, words 1–25, runs: 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.

   
2. 2

   Teach set 1 three to five words at a time. Start with the first 3–5 cards of set 1 (the, of, and, a, to). For each word, run the same 30-second routine: see it (hold up the card), say it (both of you say it), spell it (say the letter names together), trace it (your child traces the word in the salt tray or in the air with a big finger). Then flip through the words you've introduced, mixing old and new. Add 2–3 new words each session, never more than 5. When your child reads a word instantly — no sounding out, no hesitation — move it to the "know it" pile. Sessions end when the timer rings, even mid-card: quitting while it's fun is the whole trick. Set 2, words 26–50, runs: 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.

   
3. 3

   Play Beat Your Time with the current set. Lay the current set's cards face up in a row. Start the timer and have your child read straight down the row — no racing you, just racing yesterday's time. Time it, cheer, and write the time on a scrap of paper. Do it again tomorrow. Four-year-olds love watching their own number shrink, and the repetition is massive practice disguised as a race. Stop while the times are still improving or the giggles are still going — whichever comes first.

   
4. 4

   Run the 5-minute nightly review loop. Every evening, same routine: fan through the current set's cards. Sort each into two piles — "know it" (instant, confident read) and "learning" (any hesitation). Tomorrow, review only the "learning" pile plus the last few cards added, then give the "know it" pile a fast celebratory run. Words graduate from "learning" to "know it"; nothing graduates back. This sorting ritual takes two minutes and it teaches your child something powerful: their pile of known words grows every single week. Set 3, words 51–75, runs: 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.

   
5. 5

   Finish set 1, then open set 2 — and play Word Ladder Climb. Master set 1 completely (every card lands in "know it" on two different days) before set 2 comes out of hiding. When you introduce set 2, keep reviewing set 1's trickiest few in the nightly loop. For set 2, add the Word Ladder Climb: draw a ladder with 25 rungs on paper (or tape 25 rungs on a low wall) and slide a small toy or sticker up one rung for every set-2 word your child reads. The toy climbs as the words are learned — by rung 25, the set is done. The visual of the ladder half-climbed is pure motivation. Set 4, words 76–100, runs: number, no, way, could, people, my, than, first, water, been, called, who, am, its, now, find, long, down, day, did, get, come, made, may, part.

   
6. 6

   Celebrate 50 — read the words inside a real book. At the halfway point, stop for a party. Pull a favorite picture book and read it together, with your child pointing at every word they recognize. With 50 Fry words under their belt, they'll be pointing constantly. Let them read the words they know and you read the rest. This is the moment the list stops being "practice" and becomes reading — don't rush past it. Take a photo, put a sticker on the calendar, mark the halfway point loudly.

   
7. 7

   Take set 3 on the road with the Pocket Word Walk. By set 3, short practice can happen anywhere. Slip 5–6 current cards in your pocket (or your child's) and head out for a walk. Every block or so, pull out a card: your child reads it to "unlock" the next stretch of the walk. Read it wrong? The word goes back in the pocket for later, no drama. Grandma's house, the park, the grocery line — five stolen minutes of practice count exactly the same as five minutes at the table, and kids who wiggle find the walking version easier.

   
8. 8

   Deliver set 4 with Mailbox Words. Set 4 deserves a fresh game. Set up a toy mailbox (or shoebox with a slot) and three or four "addresses" — toy houses, labeled corners of the room, or cushions. You're the mail carrier: hand your child a card, and they must read it aloud before delivering it to the address you call out. Read it right, the letter gets delivered. A wrong read means the letter "gets returned" to the mailbox for another try later. The pretend-play layer makes this one the favorite — kids will beg to play post office long after the session should end, and every delivery is another read.

   
9. 9

   Lock all four sets in with the weekly review. Once all 100 are learned, the job isn't quite done — it's about keeping them. Once a week (Sunday works well), spread all 100 cards face up in their four sets. Your child reads them in order while you cook dinner or fold laundry. Pull any wobbly ones into a small "refresh" set and play Beat Your Time with just those for two minutes a day until they're smooth again. Most kids need this weekly sweep for a month or two, then the words are simply theirs. Expect a few set-1 words to have gone rusty by set 4 — that's normal memory behavior, not failure.

   
10. 10

    Read books packed with the Fry 100, then look ahead. Now the fun part: point your child at books where their new words do the heavy lifting. Any early reader or simple picture book is a Fry-word minefield — they'll be spotting the, and, you, that, with on every page. Read together, let them read every word they know, and you carry the rest. When all 100 read instantly and show up in books, the Fry list has a second hundred waiting — but there's no hurry. A four-year-old who truly owns the first 100 has the single most useful reading tool there is.

    

Other ways to play it

• Outdoor edition: tape the current set's cards along a fence and read them on a walk-by; Word Ladder Climb becomes chalk rungs on the driveway.
• Car edition: keep the current set in the glove box — red-light reading at every stop.
• Sibling edition: an older brother or sister runs Mailbox Words as the postmaster. They practice too, whether they know it or not.
• Stuffed-animal edition: line up plush toys as the "students" and let your child teach them the cards — teaching is the deepest practice there is.

How it changes by age

• Young fours: start with the first 10–15 words only (the through as), three new words a week, five-minute sessions. Games stay untimed.
• Older fours (nearly five): the full four-set plan fits well — up to five new words a session, ten-minute sessions, timed games included.
• Reading-ready signs: knows most letter names, shows interest in print, sits through a whole picture book. If those aren't there yet, keep reading aloud daily and start the list later — a story-soaked child learns these words faster when they're ready.
• Not there yet? Skip the list entirely for now. Daily read-alouds and letter play build more skill than cards ever will.

What they're learning

High-frequency word recognition: these 100 words appear in roughly half of everyday written English, so learning them unlocks a huge share of real reading. Reading fluency: instant word recognition frees a child's brain to focus on meaning instead of decoding. Sequencing and goal-setting: four clear sets teach the satisfying pattern of start, work, finish, celebrate. Self-monitoring: the "know it" vs "learning" sort trains children to notice what they actually know. Letter-sound grounding: the spell-it-and-trace-it routine connects each word's letters to its shape and name.

Questions parents ask