We’ve all been there. We have kids chant, trace, and write a word. We think they’ve learned it, only to have them stare blankly at it the next time they encounter it in text or go to write.
We find ourselves thinking (and sometimes even saying), “But you know that word,”
High-frequency-word instruction can be one of the most time-consuming—and often frustrating—parts of working with beginning readers.
So what’s going on?
Well, we’re working hard to teach them, but we’re not teaching in the most brain-friendly way, which means we are actually making it harder for students to learn them.
The good news? Providing more brain-friendly word-learning instruction is an easy shift to our instructional practice, and it offers a huge return on investment.
In this post, we’ll clarify some important misunderstandings about teaching high frequency words:
• What high frequency words actually are
• How high frequency words are different from sight words
• What the 109 Power Words are—and why they matter
• Why teaching the Power Words in list order isn’t the best approach
• How to scaffold orthographic mapping to make words stick
• When to teach explicitly and when to let phonics do the work
What Are High Frequency Words?
High frequency words are simply the words that appear most often in written English—words like the, and, of, is, to. Words designated on a high-frequency word list aren’t categorized by how hard they are to read, but by how often they occur in written language.
Think of high frequency words as the glue that holds sentences together. They’re essential to fluent reading and comprehension—not because of their meaning (which is often abstract), but because of how often they appear in text. So, if they don’t master high frequency words, students will encounter roadblocks to reading with every few words they encounter! Consider the high frequency word roadblocks in the image below. (We’ll tell you at the end of this post.)
How Are High Frequency Words Different From Sight Words?
Although the terms are often used synonymously, high-frequency words and sight words are not the same thing. So, what’s the distinction between the two?
High-frequency words = the words that appear most frequently in print
Sight words = any words a person can read instantly and effortlessly
So, yes, high-frequency words can become sight words. But we think of it like a status they have to earn. And the only way for a word to earn the sight word distinction (whether it’s a high- or low-frequency word) is for the brain to successfully engage in a process called orthographic mapping.
This is sometimes referred to as mapping words or aligning phonemes and graphemes. And, again, it is the only way (as in, there’s no other way!) for the human brain to remember all the words it needs to hold on to.
Want to dig deeper into the difference between sight words and high frequency words? Check out our blog post: Sight Words vs. High Frequency Words | Still Confused About the Difference?
Introducing the 109 Power Words
With lots of lists of high frequency words floating around out there, which words to teach can get confusing. How do you know which high frequency words are most important to focus on?
After studying lots of lists and considering the research on word learning, we developed the 109 Power Words list as a research-backed tool to help teachers focus their high-frequency word instruction where it matters most.
Here’s why they’re powerful:
• These are the words that appear most frequently in early texts.
• They are presented in order of frequency (the is first because it’s the most frequently used word in English).
• The first 13 words on the list account for 25% of all the words in print. That‘s why these are marked with an asterisk.
• If children know all 109 words, they’ll be equipped to recognize about 50% of the words they encounter in their texts.
• Add strong decoding instruction to the equation, and students will be equipped to recognize up to 90% of the high frequency words they encounter.
Just think: teaching only the first 13 words on the list could equip your students to read 1 in every 4 words they encounter!
But Wait! Don’t Teach High Frequency Words in List Order
Whether you use the 109 Power Words or some other list of high-frequency words, it’s easy to get tripped up by thinking. “Great. I’ve got the list. Now I’ll just teach these words in order, starting at the top.”
But hold on. That’s not the best approach for at least 3 reasons:
1. The 109 Power Words aren’t organized at all by spelling pattern or decodability. It can be easy to frustrate and confuse students new to learning the code with too many “rule-breakers.”
2. On the other hand, some words don’t require explicit instruction at all, because, as long as kids are getting strong phonics instruction, they will be completely decodable.
3. Rather than teaching any list from beginning to end, it’s important to learn to analyze the words on the list so you can select the right words at the right time. Below, we offer some questions to consider when prioritizing words for instruction.
When you are analyzing high-frequency words for instruction, there are several things to consider:
• How many sounds/sound-spellings are in the word?
For example, the word at is easier to learn than the word they.
• Have students learned the sound-spellings in the word?
Beginning readers will probably know the sound spellings in the word not before they are ready to read the word like, even though both are highly decodable.
• Are there related words I can teach together?
Rather than teaching words individually, you’ll save some time by grouping words (could, would, should).
• Are there words students need to know that they don’t yet know the sound-spellings for?
If students will soon encounter a new high-frequency word in a text they are going to read, you will likely want to teach it, even if they don’t yet know all the sound-spellings that make up the word.
So, Which Words to Teach When?
We teach a simple framework in our Heart Word Success course called “Which Words When.” Here are the two big ideas for choosing words to explicitly teach:
Align Students’ High Frequency Words Practice With Their Phonics Instruction
1. Consider your phonics focus for the week.
2. Identify high frequency words that contain that spelling pattern.
3. Provide ample opportunities for students to blend, read, and write these words, BUT DON’T teach an explicit lesson on them.
Select High Frequency Words With Irregular (or Unknown) Spelling Patterns for Explicit Instruction
1. Each week, choose a few words to teach explicitly.
2. Focus on words that are less regularly spelled or that include sound-spellings the students haven’t learned yet.
3. Help children map the words by scaffolding orthographic mapping.
4. Rather than working from the beginning of the list to the end, be sure to consider which words students are likely to encounter in their instructional text.
5. Provide multiple mapping opportunities.
The table shows an example of weekly high-frequency word selection, considering both decodable and irregularly spelled words.
Align High-Frequency Words Practice With Phonics Instruction: Include these words in blending practice, word reading, dictation, and decodable passage reading. |
|
Current sound/spelling instructional focus in the classroom. | Short A |
High frequency words that align with the pattern AND are regularly spelled with other sound-spellings students have learned. | and, at, as, an, can |
Select Irregular (or Temporarily Irregular) High-Frequency Words for Explicit Instruction |
|
Which less-regular high-frequency words will children encounter in their instructional texts this week? | said |
Which of the first 13 words are not yet known by your students? | you, of |
Which previously taught words (regular, less regular, or temporarily irregular) do students continue to have trouble reading and/or writing? | what |
In a nutshell, remember these two big ideas when considering words on any high-frequency words list.
✅ If a high-frequency word is fully decodable (in, on, at, and, when, etc.), let phonics instruction carry the load.
🚨 If a word contains irregular or unknown sound spellings (the, said, one, etc.), teach the word explicitly—but be selective about which words you teach when.
How to Teach High Frequency Words: Beyond Rainbow Writing
Many of the popular high frequency word activities we’ve relied on in the past were built on outdated ideas. Most of them were designed based on the assumption that words are learned through visual memorization.
This belief that kids must memorize high frequency words “by heart” has led to investing lots of classroom time in activities like:
• Chanting letters
• Rainbow writing
• Mixing and fixing
• Word shape outlining
• Flashcards galore
Unfortunately, these methods don’t tap into how the brain actually learns to read words. Want to teach high frequency words in a brain-friendly way? Next stop: orthographic mapping.
The Best Way to Teach High Frequency Words: Orthographic Mapping
Orthographic mapping is the brain process that makes words stick in children’s memories. It happens when students notice and align three different aspects of the word:
• The sounds (phonology)
• The spellings (orthography)
• The meaning (morphology)
You might think of this as the brain working through “a proof” of the word, kind of like what we did in high school geometry. It’s not enough for the brain to see, hear, or memorize the order of the letters. The brain has to have an “aha” moment about each word, coming to clearly understand how this particular set of letters aligns to the sequential sounds heard in the spoken word AND that, when those sound-spellings are used in that order to represent those sounds, they make the word ______, which means X.
Although we can’t “do” orthographic mapping for students (remember, it’s an in-the-brain process), we can adopt instructional routines that maximize grapheme/phoneme alignment as well as connecting with meaning. We can utilize specific tools and methods to make this abstract process—one that will eventually become automatic—more concrete, much like using counters to support the early phases of learning to add numbers.
These tools and processes include things like using sound boxes, teaching children to say the sounds (rather than the letter names) while writing the word, and close reading of a word by dragging a finger slowly, sound-by-sound, to verify alignment.
You can learn more about orthographic mapping in this post: Orthographic Mapping: Activities, Examples, and Explanations.
The best part of this high-frequency word work? Once a word is learned through orthographic mapping, it’s not forgotten.
Students can read, write, and use it fluently and effectively. In fact, this is how you learned every single word you can read and write fluently.
How to Use the 109 Power Words in Your Classroom: Power Moves for Teaching the Power Words
The images below offer ten catch-phrases to help you remember the most important ideas for teaching high-frequency words in ways that help the brain remember them:
If you’d like to take a deeper dive into how to leverage orthographic mapping to make sure every student masters the 109 Power words, you’ll want to check out our Heart Word Success Teacher Tools.
Get Started Today
Teaching high-frequency words in brain-friendly ways doesn’t require any special resources. You don’t need a binder full of flashcards or a dozen different worksheets to teach the high-frequency word ‘the’. To teach high frequency words effectively, you only need a few things:
□ A research-backed list of the highest frequency words
□ A defined process for prioritizing which words to teach when
□ A brain-friendly routine with multiple opportunities to align sounds, spellings, and meaning
□ A few simple assessment tools to keep track of individual and group learning
If you want a shortcut on the prep work for high frequency words instruction, our Heart Word Success Teacher Tools have you covered. In addition to a mini-course that takes the content of this blog much deeper, Heart Word Success includes an array of tools:
• A full walkthrough of how to teach high frequency words using orthographic mapping
• Engaging Interactive Slideshow Lessons for teaching each of the 109 Power Words
• Digital and Printable versions of a collection of assessment and planning resources
• A step-by-step Heart Word Success Lesson Guide that includes sample teacher language for teaching—including scaffolding orthographic mapping—each of the 109 words
• A digital resource library with tips, tricks, sample lessons, and more
Final Thought
High-frequency word instruction doesn’t have to be overwhelming. When you understand what makes words stick and how to teach them with the brain in mind, everything changes—for your students and for you.
Say goodbye to memorizing. Say hello to mapping. Let’s make word learning simpler, faster, and forever.
P.S. There were 17 “roadblocks” to reading in the form of high frequency words in the sentences you read above. See the image below to find out which words we counted.
