What are sight words?

Sight words, otherwise known as frequency sight words, are common words that are memorized by “sight” so they can be easily recognized when they are seen in any type of text. Usually these words have unusual spelling patterns that can’t be sounded out by using basic phonetic patterns. Sight words make up approximately 75% of the words used in beginning children’s print materials. The purpose of using sight words in beginning text is so children can focus on the meaning of what they read and they don’t have to spend time using strategies to decode the sounds of the words.