Learn about high-frequency words and the high-frequency definition. Discover the most common high-frequency words, the word frequency effect, and the difference between sight words and high-frequency words.
Updated: 11/21/2023
High Frequency Words | Definition, Types & Examples
Table of Contents
- Types of High-Frequency Words & Examples
- The Word Frequency Effect
- Teaching High-Frequency Words
- Lesson Summary
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common high frequency word?
The most common high frequency word is 'the,' which is an article and found more than any other word in written texts.
What words are high frequency words?
High-frequency words are words that appear most commonly in the English language, particularly in reference to print. These words may or may not have phonetic patterns. Examples include 'has', 'it', 'to', and 'the'.
What is the difference between a sight word and a high frequency word?
Sight words and high frequency words overlap and may be taught together. The main difference is that when learning sight words, one must rely on memorization due to the irregular spellings.
Table of Contents
- Types of High-Frequency Words & Examples
- The Word Frequency Effect
- Teaching High-Frequency Words
- Lesson Summary
High-frequency words are the most commonly appearing words found in print. Believe it or not, most adults typically have a base of 30,000-60,000 high-frequency words in their repertoire.
When it comes to teaching literacy, a focus on high-frequency words will help an emerging reader become more fluent and develop stronger reading skills. High-frequency words are an essential part of English literacy development. Benefits of learning high-frequency words include:
- Learning just 13 of the most common high-frequency words will allow a child to read 25% of most text.
- Learning the top 100 most common high-frequency words gives a student access to 50% of most text.
- Acquisition of high-frequency words improves reading fluency, speed, and accuracy.
- High-frequency words support comprehension of text.
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Difference Between High-Frequency Words and Sight Words
There are several high-frequency words that are also sight words; therefore, confusion can arise regarding the differences in their definitions. While high-frequency words are the most commonly used words, sight words are words that cannot be sounded out using phonics and instead must be visually recognized and memorized.
Because both high-frequency and sight words are critical to learning literacy, they may be taught simultaneously in elementary school. As a student progresses, high-frequency words that are beyond the reading level of the child may be integrated into sight word lists. Note that there are many high-frequency words that can be phonetically decoded. This is not the case with sight words. Regardless, students should develop the ability to read both high-frequency and sight words.
Types of High-Frequency Words & Examples
There are several lists that teachers can use for high-frequency word instruction. These include Fry Instant Words and the Dolch list. Kindergarten students should master 50 or more of these words by the end of the year and have at least 15 in their toolbox before beginning phonics instruction. Keep in mind that high-frequency words are not easy to learn due to their irregular phonetic patterns, lack of concrete meanings, and abstract nature. Students must repetitively work on memorizing these words.
Examples of high-frequency words include:
- would
- go
- walk
- buy
- some
Now let's examine the ten most common types of high-frequency words and explore examples of each.
Ten Most Common High-Frequency Words
The ten most common high-frequency words on the Fry's First 100 list, created in 1980, include the following:
- the (most commonly used word)
- of
- and
- a
- to
- in
- is
- you
- that
- it
High-Frequency Words: Articles
Articles are words that come before a noun and mark it as general or specific. Examples of high-frequency articles include:
- the
- a
- an
Note that the word 'the' is both an article and the most common high-frequency word in English.
High-Frequency Words: Prepositions
A preposition in the English language is a word that demonstrates direction (to the park), location (at the school), time (in the morning), and place (beneath the bed).
Examples of high-frequency prepositions include the following:
- in
- at
- on
- of
- to
- between
- beneath
- above
High-Frequency Auxiliary Words
In the English language, auxiliary words are verbs, often referred to as helping verbs, that support the main verb. For example, the words 'would,' 'do,' and 'can' are not frequently employed in their infinitive forms, but they can be quite useful when expressed as helping verbs.
High-frequency auxiliary verbs take the following forms:
- 'to be' expressed using the words 'are,' 'being,' and 'been'
- 'to have' expressed using the words 'has,' 'have,' and 'having'
- 'to do' expressed using the words 'does,' 'did,' and 'done'
High-Frequency Words: Nouns & Proper Nouns
A noun in the English language is a person, place, thing, or idea. A proper noun refers to the specific names of people, places, things, or ideas, in which the first letter of the word is capitalized.
High-frequency nouns include:
- mother (in the top 1,000 high-frequency words)
- father
- children
- people
High-frequency proper nouns include:
- United States (in the top 1,000 high-frequency words)
- Christmas
- English
- American
High-Frequency Words: Conjunctions
A conjunction in the English language is a word that connects words, phrases, and clauses.
Examples of high-frequency conjunctions include:
- and
- but
- or
- nor
- yet
- so
High-Frequency Words: Homonyms
Homonyms are words that can have several meanings but are spelled and pronounced the same.
Examples of high-frequency homonyms include:
- general
- spring
- fly
- saw
- watch
- can
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The word frequency effect refers to findings that claim the more frequently a word appears, the more quickly the brain processes it. In other words, the more exposure one has to a word, the easier it is for a person to process it and respond with ease. The opposite may be true for low-frequency words that an individual rarely encounters. Low-frequency words will elicit a slower response time when reading. Ultimately, the word frequency effect affects reading fluency, speed, and accuracy.
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The importance of acquiring a strong high-frequency word base necessitates that teachers must be responsive to their student's needs, offering direct strategies for learning them. Keep in mind that high-frequency and sight words overlap. Due to the nature of their irregularity, memorization techniques are key, as is frequent exposure and practice. Consider teaching high-frequency words in isolation and in context, with ample opportunities for practice. Limit the number of words taught so that students can easily retain what they've learned.
Consider the following strategies when teaching high-frequency words:
- Combine phonics instruction with high-frequency words that have phonetic patterns. These are words that students can sound out such as 'in,' 'at,' and 'like.' Another strategy is to group words that have similar patterns, such as open long-vowel patterns found in the words 'go,' 'so,' and 'no.' Keep in mind that this technique doesn't work for high-frequency words that are irregular, such as 'said,' 'was,' and 'from.' These irregular words will require other tactics to learn.
- Teach high-frequency words in the context of a sentence or story.
- Trace the outline of a high-frequency word in order to visually remember it.
- Create cooperative learning groups for students to practice words using flashcards or playing BINGO.
- Create a high-frequency word center in the classroom where students can independently practice. A student may work on tracing a word, writing, and saying it out loud. Other activities may include using magnets to form words, or listening to the words read aloud on a recording as the child follows along. Sorting and matching activities are also beneficial.
- Utilize technology and computer programs that focus on high-frequency words.
- Multisensory approaches, such as writing the words in sand or shaving cream, are helpful.
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High-Frequency Sight Words: First Grade
First grade is a pivotal year for emerging readers. It is critical for first graders to learn high-frequency words in order to establish a basis of knowledge before tackling more difficult reading skills.
First grade Dolch high-frequency, sight words include:
- after, again, an, any, as, ask
- by, could, every, fly, from
- give, giving, 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
High-Frequency Sight Words: Second Grade
Second-graders should have a solid repertoire of high-frequency words in their literacy toolbox.
Second-grade Dolch high-frequency, sight words include:
- 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
High-Frequency Sight Words: Third Grade
By third grade, students are immersed in more difficult texts. However, mastering high-frequency words is still important at this stage, and these words should continue to be explicitly taught.
Third-grade Dolch high-frequency, sight words include:
- 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
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High-frequency words are words that appear most commonly when speaking, reading, and writing the English language. High-frequency words can overlap with sight words, which are words that cannot be read using phonics, but should not be mistaken for one and same. Key points regarding high-frequency words include:
- 'The' is the most common high-frequency word. It is also an article.
- Auxiliary words are helping verbs; however, 'would,' 'do,' and 'can' are not frequently employed on their own, but become useful when helping another verb.
- The proper nouns 'American,' 'United States,' and 'English' are found in the top 1,200 most common high-frequency words.
- Homonyms are words that have the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings. An example is the word 'general.' Due to having multiple meanings, homonyms appear frequently.
When teaching students high-frequency words, educators need to use explicit strategies with an emphasis on repetition and exposure to the words in isolation or in context. The word frequency effect findings link the processing of a word with the frequency it is read. The more frequently a word is read, the quicker the brain will process it.
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Video Transcript
What Are High Frequency Words?
What are some of the words you've used today? Perhaps you wrote your grandmother to tell her how 'elated' you were to receive her gift; or maybe you commented on how to maintain a 'salubrious' environment in biology class? You would recall employing these vocabulary terms because they're not words that many of us use on a regular basis.
But what about words like of, an, or could? You might not specifically remember using such high frequency words because these terms are those that appear most commonly in everyday usage, so they—oddly enough—tend to be overlooked. High frequency words are employed so often that our brains even have their own place for them!
Some of the most frequently used words are simple verbs and nouns like write or pair. However, many are also terms that are crucial to our understanding of English. In fact, the majority of the 100 most commonly seen words are articles, pronouns (i.e. I,'that, and your), prepositions, auxiliaries, or forms of the verb 'to be' (such as am, is and were). The definite article the is the most frequently seen word in the English language, and the indefinite articles a and an are on the list as well.
Prepositions are the part of speech that describes the relationships between other words in a sentence, and examples like of and to populate top positions on the high frequency word list.
Like prepositions, auxiliary words such as would, do, can, or not don't make much sense on their own, but these terms are often essential to conveying the correct verbal meaning. Words like these and the examples we'll look at in a minute, represent only a few of the terms that we use most often. Nevertheless, take a look at these high frequency words and see how easily you recognize them!
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Examples
#3: and
Another part of speech readily found on the high frequency word list is the conjunction. As the name suggests, conjunctions like and, or, and but combine parts of a sentence or list together. It's no surprise, then, that these important connectors are so often used.
#226: mother
Historically, females have often been unequally represented compared to males. In the realm of high frequency words, the story's not much different, with men ranking at #148 and women coming in at #685. However, when it comes to which parent children seem to call on the most, mother beats out father every time!
#305: United States
Not many high frequency words are proper nouns, or capitalized terms referring to a specific person, place, thing, or idea. Actually, there are only three in a list of the 1,200 most commonly used words! United States is the most frequent of these, with American coming in at #319. Considerably farther down the list is the term English (#350), which is surprising considering it's the name of the language itself.
#639: general
Some terms like general probably appear in the high frequency word list because they are homonyms, or words that are spelled and sound the same, but have different meanings or usages. For instance, general could refer to a common military rank (noun) or could just as easily be used to describe something (adjective) that isn't technical or specific.
#1064: opportunity
Many of the most frequently employed words contain only one or two syllables. However, the further you go down the list, the more three-syllable and multisyllabic words you find. At five syllables, opportunity and immediately (#1065) are the longest out of a list of 1,200 high frequency words!
Lesson Summary
Let's review. High frequency words are those that appear most commonly in everyday usage. Some of them are simple nouns or verbs, such as mother and women or write and speak. Many of them are also pronouns (such as I, that, and your) or forms of the verb 'to be' (such as are or were) that are quite often used in everyday speech.
Articles (i.e. #1-the) are some of the most commonly used words, but other special types of words also contribute greatly to the list. Prepositions like of and to also form a considerable part of the high frequency word list, along with auxiliary words, or nonsensical terms on their own that are often vital to understanding correct verbal meaning (such as would, do, and can). Conjunctions such as and or but are also prevalent.
Some words like general may owe their position as high frequency words to their being homonyms, or identically spelled and pronounced words with different meanings and uses. Significantly fewer high frequency words contain more than four syllables, and even fewer (only three) are proper nouns (typically capitalized terms identifying specific people, places, things, or ideas).
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