Sight Words List for Australian Schools

Sight Words Lists for Australian Primary Schools

Sight words — also called high-frequency words — are the words that appear most often in English reading and writing. They make up roughly 50–70% of any text a child reads, which is why learning to recognise them instantly (by "sight") is one of the foundations of early reading fluency.

Australian schools use several different sight word lists. The most common are the Oxford Wordlist (developed from Australian children's writing), Magic 100 Words (M100W), and the Dolch and Fry word lists. This page compares these lists, explains how they fit into the Australian Curriculum, and provides practical strategies for teaching sight words at each year level.

Whether you're setting up your Foundation literacy program or supporting struggling readers in Year 3, you'll find the right list and resources below.

Australian schools use several sight word lists. Here's how the most common ones compare:

Which List Should You Use?

Most Australian schools use either the Oxford Wordlist or M100W because they're based on words Australian children actually encounter and use. If your school hasn't specified a list, the Oxford Wordlist is the strongest choice — it was developed specifically from Australian students' writing.

The key principle is consistency: use the same list across your school so that students build on the same words from year to year and parents know what to practise at home.

How Much Overlap Is There?

There is significant overlap between all four lists, particularly for the first 100 words. Words like the, and, is, was, to, in, it, of, my, he, she, we, they, said, have, are, you, this, that, with appear on every list. The differences are mainly in ordering, grouping, and how far the lists extend.

The Oxford Wordlist was developed through a research partnership between Oxford University Press Australia and the University of Melbourne (led by Professor Joseph Lo Bianco and Dr Janet Scull). The researchers analysed thousands of writing samples from Australian children in their first four years of school to identify the words children use most frequently in their own writing, making it directly relevant to Australian classrooms.

How It's Organised

The original Oxford Wordlist contains 307 words organised into frequency bands, with an updated edition extending to 500 words. The first 100 words account for roughly half of all words in children's writing. The list is not levelled by year — schools typically decide how many words to introduce each term based on their students' needs.

Common Grouping by Year Level

While schools vary, a common approach is:

• Foundation: First 50–100 Oxford words
• Year 1: Words 100–200
• Year 2: Words 200–307 plus consolidation
• Year 3+: Consolidation and extension with subject-specific vocabulary

Why Australian Teachers Prefer It

• Based on Australian children's writing, not American or British data
• Reflects the words students actually need for their own writing
• Supported by Oxford University Press teaching resources
• Updated using contemporary Australian writing samples

The Magic 100 Words — often called M100W — is one of the most widely used sight word lists in Australian primary schools. The core list contains the 100 most frequently used words in written English, with extension lists bringing the total to around 300 words.

How It's Organised

M100W is typically colour-coded into groups, making it easy for students to track progress and for teachers to differentiate:

• Gold Words (12 words): the, a, I, is, it, to, and, of, in, was, be, that
• Further groups progress through Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Indigo, and Violet to complete the core 100 words
• Extension lists (Magic 200 Words and Magic 300 Words) use additional colour groups to extend coverage to 300 words

The colour groups vary in size — Gold has 12 words, while other groups range from 10 to 20 words. The exact words and groupings may vary slightly between editions, so check which version your school uses.

Teaching with M100W

The colour-coding system lends itself to:

• Classroom display walls organised by colour
• Colour-coded flash cards and word rings
• Progress tracking charts where students colour in words they've mastered
• "Rainbow writing" activities where students write words in the matching colour
• Homework sheets grouped by colour level

The Australian Curriculum v9 for English doesn't prescribe a specific sight word list. Instead, it refers to high-frequency words within the Literacy strand under "Phonic and word knowledge." The expectation is that students learn to read and write high-frequency words with automaticity as part of their broader literacy development.

Note: The curriculum does not specify exact word count targets. The benchmarks below are common school-level expectations used across many Australian schools.

Foundation

Students learn to "write some high-frequency words and other familiar words including their name, using learned letter-sound correspondences and known letter patterns." At this stage, the focus is on building a small bank of words students can read and write automatically alongside their developing phonics skills.

Common school benchmark: Recognise and write 50–100 high-frequency words by end of year.

Year 1

Students "recognise and know how to write most high-frequency words including some homophones." The sight word bank grows significantly as students encounter more words through guided and independent reading.

Common school benchmark: Recognise and write 100–200 high-frequency words by end of year.

Year 2

Students "read and write high-frequency words and words whose spelling can be explained by common letter-sound relationships." By this stage, most high-frequency words should be automatic, and instruction shifts to applying spelling patterns and rules.

Common school benchmark: Recognise and write 200–300 high-frequency words by end of year.

Year 3 and Beyond

Explicit sight word instruction typically phases out by Year 3 for most students. The focus shifts to vocabulary development, morphology (prefixes, suffixes, root words), and subject-specific terminology. Students who haven't mastered their sight words by Year 3 benefit from targeted intervention rather than whole-class sight word programs.

Sight Words and Phonics — Working Together

There is an ongoing discussion in Australian education about the relationship between sight words and systematic phonics instruction. The current evidence supports teaching both:

• Decodable words should be taught through phonics — students learn the letter-sound relationships and blend them to read the word
• Irregular high-frequency words (like "said", "was", "the") need explicit teaching because they don't follow regular phonics patterns
• Many high-frequency words are actually decodable once students know enough letter-sound correspondences

The best approach is to integrate sight word instruction within a structured literacy program. See our Science of Reading and Decodable Readers pages for more on evidence-based literacy instruction.

1. Introduce Words in Small Groups

Introduce 3–5 new words per week rather than overwhelming students with long lists. Ensure students have mastered the current group before moving on. Revisit previously learned words regularly to maintain automaticity.

2. Use Multi-Sensory Approaches

Students learn sight words more effectively when they engage multiple senses:

• See it: Flash cards, word walls, reading in context
• Say it: Read the word aloud, use it in a sentence, clap the syllables
• Write it: Write in sand trays, with finger paint, on whiteboards, in workbooks
• Build it: Use magnetic letters, letter tiles, playdough

3. Read Words in Context

Isolated flash card drill has limited effectiveness if students can't transfer their knowledge to real reading. Always practise sight words in sentences and connected text. Decodable readers that incorporate high-frequency words are ideal for this.

4. Send Words Home

Parents are powerful partners in sight word learning. Send home:

• A word ring or flash cards with the current words
• Simple games families can play (snap, memory, bingo)
• A reading log where parents note which words their child reads fluently

5. Assess Regularly

Quick, informal assessments help you know when to move on:

• Flash card checks: Show each word for 2 seconds — if the student reads it instantly, it's mastered
• Writing checks: Dictate words and see if students can write them correctly
• Running records: Note which high-frequency words students read automatically during guided reading

6. Don't Forget to Retire Words

Once a student can read and write a word automatically in multiple contexts, it's mastered. Move it to a "retired" pile and replace it with new words. This keeps the active list manageable and gives students a sense of progress.