The Difference Between High-Frequency Words and Sight Words

While “High-Frequency Words” and “Sight Words” are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, there is an important difference. Out of the roughly 500,000 words in both the Oxford English and the Merriam-Webster dictionaries, Robert Hillerich argues that if children can read the first 10 of the most frequently used words they “can read a fourth of all words in any English book” (1976, p. 59-60). Furthermore, Dr. Edward Fry states that the 25 most common words make up about one-third of the written material, while 100 most common words actually make up about 50% of the material we read (Fry, 2000). These commonly occurring words, such as: and, the, and it, are what are known as “High-Frequency” words.

In contrast, “Sight Words” are words that a reader can recognize, “at first sight” and without hesitation. These are often words that can be recalled with little to no cognitive energy being devoted to decoding the word. While these words often fall under the classification of “High-Frequency,” some “Sight Words” will be low-frequency in the scheme of the English language, but “high-frequency” in the scheme of a child’s individual world/environment (i.e. – Dog, Truck, etc.).

That’s why we, at The Short Books, choose to include a balanced combination of both High Frequency and Sight Words in our books. Research has shown that teaching these words improves reading skills and provides a basis for children and early English learners to decode or learn new words. To learn more about The Short Books, please check out our easy-to-use cumulative series of The Short Books:

Citations:
Fry, Edward Bernard et. al., The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists, 4th Edition. Paramus, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2000.

Hillerich, Robert L. “Developing Vocabulary.” Learning, 5 (November 1976) 59-60.