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The Fry Sight 1000 Word List
Fry Sight Words (also referred to as the Fry Sight 1000 Words) are common English words collected by Dr. Edward B. Fry in the mid-20th century. He aimed to help students read better and faster by focusing on words they often come across in text.
This list has 1,000 curated words for smooth reading and writing. You might know them as “sight words” because readers can spot them instantly, without needing to break them down or sound them out.
These words show up a lot in written text. Knowing them can improve reading speed and understanding.
The Fry Words are grouped into (grade) levels. Each level has around 100 words, arranged from the most common to the less common. One level of words leads to and builds upon the next level of words as readers advance in learning and grade levels.
Schools use this list to teach reading skills. Teachers weave these words into their lessons, thus urging students to read and spell them often.
Dr. Fry followed this process to curate the words for his list:
- In the Corpus Analysis step, Fry’s team gathered a varied collection of written materials like books and articles.
- In the Word Frequency Count, they checked the regularity of each word’s appearance. More frequent words had a better chance of making the list.
- In the Word Difficulty phase, Fry balanced how often and how easy the words were. He chose ones young readers would often see and could learn without struggle.
- Progression and Categorization saw Fry sorting the words into manageable groups. Each group held around 100 words of similar difficulty, allowing for gradual learning.
- In Field Testing, the list was used in schools to check if it improved reading fluency. Feedback led to further refining.
- The Finalization step resulted in the final Fry Words list, a set of 1,000 frequently used words.
Despite its usefulness, the Fry Words list isn’t a complete or absolute list of crucial English words. It serves as a tool, helping grade school and high school readers to recognize common words and advance their reading skills. You can find out the percentage of Fry Sight Words in your text by using our Fry 1000K Sight Words Assessment tool.
