A “sight word” is a word a child recognises instantly, without sounding it out. The tempting idea is to build reading by memorising lots of whole words on flashcards. For most words, that is the wrong strategy, English has far too many words to memorise as shapes.
The reliable engine of reading is decoding: sounding words out with phonics. Do that enough, and words become automatic “sight words” on their own, through reading, not through drilling cards.
Why pure memorisation doesn’t scale
A child who reads by memorising word-shapes and guessing from context hits a wall around the point where books get harder and pictures stop helping. There are simply too many words. Decoding, by contrast, is a skill that unlocks words the child has never seen before.
This is why the research consensus, and UK schools, put systematic phonics first.
Where “tricky words” genuinely fit
There is a small set of very common words that don’t follow the regular patterns, said, the, was, one, you. These are sometimes called tricky or “common exception” words. Children do learn to read these partly by sight, because sounding them out doesn’t fully work.
But note the scale: this is a short list of high-frequency exceptions, taught alongside phonics, not a strategy for reading in general. Even with tricky words, good teaching points out the part that is regular (“s-ai-d”, with only the middle being the odd bit).
What to do at home
- Lead with sounds. When your child meets a new word, encourage sounding out first.
- Don’t drill stacks of flashcards for speed, it builds the wrong habit and drains the joy.
- Do gently practise the handful of tricky words your school sends home, as exceptions.
- Trust that fluency comes from lots of reading, not from memorising word lists.
Common questions
Should I use sight-word flashcards?
Mostly no. Beyond a short list of genuinely irregular common words, memorising whole words doesn’t scale and can encourage guessing. Phonics, sounding words out, is the skill that lets a child read new words independently.
What are “tricky words”?
A small set of very common words that don’t follow regular spelling patterns, like “said”, “the” and “was”. Children learn these partly by sight, alongside their phonics, because they can’t be fully sounded out.
- National Reading Panel, Teaching Children to ReadNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 2000
- Jim Rose, Independent Review of the Teaching of Early ReadingUK Department for Education and Skills, 2006