Dolch, Sight, Fry or High Frequency Words?

We've all heard these terms; dolch words, fry words, sight words, and high frequency words. But what is the difference?


Sight Words- are Anglo-Saxon in origin. Sight words require memorization because of their non-phonetic structure and high degree of usage in the English language. (i.e. come, said, two)


High Frequency Words- words are phonetic but have a high degree of frequency in the English language. High frequency words must be learned before any phonetically based series would teach the concept. (i.e. a, down, please, three).


Dolch Words- may have at least seven different versions. Some of the lists are restructured and should be learned at a certain grade level.


Fry Words- are the most common words in English, ranked in frequency order. The first 25 make up about a third of all printed material. The first 100 make up about half of all written material, and the first 300 make up about 65 percent of all written material.