High - Frequency Regular Words

Question 1

What is the difference between sight words and High- Frequency words

Answer 1

Sight words are words that are recognized by sight. High-frequency words encountered most often in texts differ from words that can be read by sight. There are two kinds of high-frequency words: decodable and irregularly spelled words.

High-frequency words are words that appear most often in a majority of texts. Similar to phonics patterns, high-frequency words should be taught using a systematic, explicit approach. Again, there should be a developmentally appropriate scope and sequence of the words taught.

Question 2

Decodable High - frequency words

Answer 2

Children encounter these words commonly and frequently in reading materials. They may include basic pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and other words necessary for constructing sentences. Examples of decodable high-frequency words include: “and,” “in,” “it,” “he,” “she,” “we,” “for,” etc.

Question 3

Irregularly spelled high-frequency words

Answer 3

These are words that do not follow typical phonetic patterns and cannot be decoded as easily as regularly spelled words. Instruction should focus on identifying the decodable parts of these words. For example, in the word “said,” both the “s” and the “d” represent predictable sounds, while the “ai” makes an unpredictable, short “e” sound. Other examples of irregularly spelled high-frequency words include: was, said, to, of, two, come, and does.