Make Sight Word Cards

Make printable Sight Words Flash Cards

Create sight word flashcards for early readers in seconds. Generate Dolch and Fry sight word cards by grade level — study online or print for the classroom.

Free to start · No credit card · Print or study online

Already have an account? Log in

Used by 170,000+ learners and professionals worldwide
170,000+
learners and professionals learning
320+
Dolch & Fry words
Pre-K–3rd
grade levels
How it works

Sight word cards in three steps

Pick a grade list, let AI build the deck, then print or study online — no design work required.

01

Step 1: Pick a Grade or List

Choose Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade Dolch words, or start with the Fry first 100 high-frequency words.

02

Step 2: Generate Cards

AI builds clean, large-print sight word flashcards with optional sentence examples so the word gets seen in context.

03

Step 3: Print or Study Online

Print as flashcards on cardstock for the classroom, or study digitally with spaced repetition and audio.

The basics

What Are Sight Words?

Sight words are the small, high-frequency words a child needs to recognize instantly — without sounding them out — to read fluently. Words like "the", "and", "was", "of", and "you" make up a huge share of every page a beginning reader sees, and many of them don't follow regular phonics rules. That's why teachers ask early readers to learn them by sight.

The two most widely used sight word lists in U.S. schools are the Dolch list (220 service words plus 95 nouns, grouped by grade from Pre-K through 3rd) and the Fry list (1,000 words ordered by frequency in printed material). The Dolch words account for a large share of the words children encounter in early reading material, which is why mastering them supports reading fluency.

Sight word flash cards are the simplest, most effective tool for this. Repeated, brief exposure — a few words a day, mixed review of known words — builds the automatic recognition that lets early readers stop decoding every word and start reading for meaning.

Dolch list

Dolch Sight Words by Grade

The 220 Dolch service words — the high-frequency words every K–3 reader should master, grouped by the grade level they're typically introduced.

Pre-K Sight Words (40 words)

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you

Kindergarten Sight Words (52 words)

all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes

1st Grade Sight Words (41 words)

after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, going, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when

2nd Grade Sight Words (46 words)

always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your

3rd Grade Sight Words (41 words)

about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, never, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm

Fry list

Fry First 100 Sight Words

Dr. Edward Fry's first hundred most-common words in printed English. These 100 words make up roughly half of all words in printed children's books.

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, word, 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, call, who, oil, its, now, find, long, down, day, did, get, come, made, may, part

Teaching tips

How to Teach Sight Words with Flash Cards

Start Small (5 Words at a Time)

Introduce 3–5 new sight words per week. Trying to learn 20 at once overwhelms early readers and slows automatic recognition.

Mix Known with New

Each practice deck should be ~80% known words and ~20% new ones. The wins keep kids engaged, the new words stretch them.

Use the Word in a Sentence

After your child reads a card, have them use the word in a spoken sentence. Context cements meaning, not just shape.

Short, Daily Sessions

Five minutes a day beats 30 minutes once a week. Spaced repetition is the proven path to automaticity.

Multisensory Practice

Trace the word in sand, build it with letter tiles, then read the flashcard. Movement helps the word stick.

Celebrate Mastery

Move mastered words into a "won" pile your child can see grow. Visible progress motivates repeat practice.

Why it works

Why Sight Word Flash Cards Work

Build Reading Fluency

Sight words make up a large share of early reading material. Mastering them frees mental energy for comprehension.

Bypass Tricky Phonics

Words like "said", "was", and "the" don't follow regular phonics rules — they need to be memorized by sight.

Boost Reading Confidence

Instant recognition of common words lets early readers feel successful on every page they open.

Track Progress by Grade

Dolch and Fry lists give a clear benchmark for what your child should master at each grade level.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Dolch and Fry sight words?

The Dolch list (1936) contains 220 service words plus 95 nouns, organized by grade level from Pre-K through 3rd grade. The Fry list (1957) contains 1,000 words ranked by frequency in printed material. Both are widely used; Dolch is more common in U.S. elementary classrooms because it's grouped by grade, while Fry's lists tend to go further into upper-elementary vocabulary.

What age should kids start learning sight words?

Most children start learning sight words in Pre-K (age 4) and continue through 3rd grade (age 8–9). The 40 Pre-K Dolch words are usually introduced first, followed by Kindergarten words once those are mastered. Going by grade lists, not age, is more reliable since readiness varies.

Can I print the sight word flashcards?

Yes — every Scholarly flashcard deck exports to a print-ready PDF formatted for standard letter or A4 paper. Print on cardstock and laminate them for classroom durability, or hole-punch them to make a portable sight word ring.

How many sight words should we practice per day?

For most early readers, 5–10 minutes a day on a deck of 10–15 cards (mostly known words plus 2–3 new ones) is the sweet spot. Daily short sessions beat long weekly ones for building automatic recognition.

Are sight words the same as high-frequency words?

The terms are often used interchangeably. Technically, "sight words" are any words a reader recognizes instantly without decoding, and "high-frequency words" are simply the most common words in printed English. In practice, the lists overlap heavily and teachers treat them the same way for early instruction.

Get started

Start Making Sight Word Cards Today

Help early readers reach fluency with AI-generated sight word flashcards.

Trying your first source? Start Free. Working with new material each week? Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits a week. Need more capacity? Compare Laureate.

Pricing shown in USD by default. Local currency may be available in app or at checkout.

Compare plans

AI chat

Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5 are reserved for credit-metered AI creations.

Free
3 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

AI Creation Credits

AI Creation Credits share one balance across every creation tool. Most models use 1 credit, Sonnet and Kimi use 2, and Frontier models Sol and Opus use 3.

Free
1 total
Premium
10/week
Laureate
80/week

Podcast length

Free episodes are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target length up to 60 minutes.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 60 minutes
Laureate
Up to 60 minutes

Video lecture length

Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short uses its own short video format.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 45 minutes
Laureate
Up to 45 minutes

File uploads

Free
1 total (8MB)
Premium
Unlimited (300MB)
Laureate
Unlimited (1 GB each)

PDF to flashcards

Free
32 pages
Premium
1000 pages
Laureate
3000 pages

Sources per creation

Free
Up to 1
Premium
Up to 10
Laureate
Up to 20

Practice questions

Free
5 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Practice exams

Free
1 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Voice mode

Free
15 min total
Premium
2 hr/day
Laureate
12 hr/day

Autocomplete

Free
500 words total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Export to Anki

Free
Premium
Included
Laureate
Included

Support

Free
Standard
Premium
Priority
Laureate
Priority

What customers say

Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.

TD Georgas

TD Georgas

Tutor

I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.

Diana

Diana

Scholarly user

Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.

Briana

Briana

Scholarly user

This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.

Kelvin

Kelvin

Scholarly user

Your questions, answered

Is Scholarly free to use?

Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with lifetime allowances: 3 AI Chat messages, 500 autocomplete words, 5 quiz questions, 15 voice minutes, 1 practice exam, one free AI Creation Credit total, and 1 file upload. These allowances do not reset. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI Creation Credits per week and unlimited uploads.

What uses my free AI Creation Credits?

AI Creation Credits are shared across flashcards, podcasts, videos, slides, AI Documents, Deep Research, and the Transcribe tool. The selected model determines the credit cost. Recording live audio and saving its transcript uses your file upload allowance instead; it does not use AI Creation Credits.

Can I cancel anytime?

Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.

Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?

Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.

What happens when I hit a free plan limit?

You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free-plan allowances are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI Creation Credits per week, podcasts up to 60 minutes, video lectures up to 45 minutes, unlimited uploads, chat, autocomplete, quizzes, and exams, plus more daily voice time.