Which words should be taught as sight words and why?

• A. High-frequency words that often do not follow predictable decoding and must be recognized automatically to support fluency.
• B. Words that rhyme.
• C. Rare technical terms.
• D. Words with perfect decodability.

Answer: (A)

Mastery comes from recognizing frequent words quickly, not from sounding out every time. These high-frequency words appear so often that being able to read them instantly keeps the reading flow smooth and frees cognitive resources for understanding. Many of these words don’t follow predictable spelling-to-sound rules, so kids benefit from memorizing them as sight words to support fluency. That’s why the best choice emphasizes high-frequency words that often don’t decode predictably and must be recognized automatically.

Rhyming words aren’t the main goal of sight word work because rhyme helps with phonological awareness, not the instantaneous recognition of common text. Rare technical terms aren’t typically needed for young readers and aren’t what sight word instruction targets. Words that are perfectly decodable should be learned through decoding rather than memorized as sight words, since they follow regular rules.