KidZone Worksheets
An Introduction to Fry Frequency Words
contributed by
Introduction
Fry Frequency Words, often referred to as Fry words or the Fry list, are a compilation of the most commonly used words in the English language. Developed by Dr. Edward Fry in the 1950s, the list is based on extensive research and analysis of written texts, including newspapers, magazines, and books. The Fry words are divided into ten levels, with each level containing 100 words. These words make up approximately 50% of all written material, making them an essential foundation for young readers as they begin to develop their reading skills.
Benefits of Using Fry Frequency Words
The benefits of using Fry Frequency Words to teach young children how to read are numerous. By focusing on these high-frequency words, children can quickly build a strong base of vocabulary that enables them to recognize and read a significant portion of the text they encounter. This familiarity with common words helps boost their reading fluency, comprehension, and overall confidence in their reading abilities. As children become more adept at recognizing Fry words, they can devote more cognitive resources to understanding the context and meaning of the text, rather than spending time and effort on decoding individual words.
In addition to the benefits of improved fluency and comprehension, teaching Fry Frequency Words as sight words also allows young readers to bypass some of the challenges associated with phonetic decoding. As many Fry words do not follow standard phonetic rules, learning them as sight words allows children to recognize and read these words instantly, without needing to sound them out. This strategy not only increases reading speed but also fosters a more enjoyable and engaging reading experience for young learners. As children progress through the Fry list and become more proficient readers, they can tackle increasingly complex texts with confidence and ease, paving the way for a lifelong love of reading.
Single Page, Fry Word List - First 100
The first 100 Fry words are typically organized based on their frequency in written texts. However, the exact order in which they should be taught can vary depending on the needs and abilities of individual learners -- the flashcards I've provided are the order I presented them in. Below is a list of the first 100 Fry words:
a, about, after, again, all, an, and, any, are, as, at, be, been, before, boy, but, by, can, cat, come, day, did, do, down, for, from, get, give, go, good, had, has, have, he, her, here, him, his, how, I, if, in, is, it, just, know, like, little, long, make, man, many, me, much, my, new, no, not, of, old, on, one, or, other, our, out, put, said, see, she, so, some, take, that, the, their, them, then, there, they, this, three, to, two, up, us, very, was, we, were, what, when, which, who, will, with, work, would, you, your
Single Page, Fry Word List - Second 100
also, am, another, away, back, ball, because, best, better, big, black, book, both, box, bring, call, came, color, could, dear, each, eat, end, far, find, first, five, found, four, friend, girl, got, hand, high, home, house, into, kind, last, leave, left, let, live, look, made, may, men, more, morning, most, mother, must, name, near, never, next, night, only, open, over, own, people, play, please, present, pretty, ran, read, red, right, run, saw, say, school, seem, shall, should, soon, stand, such, sure, tell, than, these, thing, think, too, tree, under, until, upon, use, want, way, where, while, white, why, wish, year
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Third 100
along, always, anything, around, ask, ate, bed, brown, buy, car, carry, clean, close, clothes, coat, cold, cut, didn't, does, dog, don't, door, dress, early, eight, every, eyes, face, fall, fast, fat, fine, fire, fly, food, full, funny, gave, goes, green, grow, happy, hard, hat, head, hear, help, hold, hope, hot, jump, keep, letter, longer, love, might, money, myself, now, o'clock, off, once, order, pair, part, ride, round, same, sat, second, set, seven, show, sing, sister, sit, six, sleep, small, start, stop, ten, thank, third, those, though, today, took, town, try, turn, walk, warm, wash, water, woman, write, yellow, yes, yesterday
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Fourth 100
above, across, against, ago, air, airplane, almost, answer, bad, began, being, between, bit, brought, built, care, change, children, city, country, course, cover, different, done, during, enough, even, family, father, feel, feet, few, fight, front, garden, gone, government, half, held, horse, hundred, I'm, interest, kill, land, large, late, learn, life, line, lost, matter, mean, meet, Miss, Mr., Mrs., need, nothing, number, outside, paper, party, pay, poor, ready, receive, remember, send, shoes, side, since, something, sometimes, state, stay, still, story, street, suit, sun, table, thought, time, together, told, tried, true, wear, week, wind, window, winter, without, won't, word, world, yard, yet, young
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Fifth 100
able, add, afternoon, age, alone, among, arm, bank, beautiful, became, begin, believe, bird, boat, bread, bridge, brother, business, catch, certain, chair, charge, church, class, company, cost, cousin, cow, cry, dinner, egg, either, evening, fair, farm, feed, fell, fill, finish, fish, flew, floor, follow, glad, grade, great, ground, guess, hair, hill, hour, ice, lady, less, low, milk, mind, month, note, office, pass, past, picture, plan, point, question, quite, reach, reason, remain, rest, return, road, room, sent, service, several, ship, short, sick, sir, snow, spell, spring, stick, summer, talk, teacher, tomorrow, train, visit, wait, war, watch, went, whole, whom, women, wood, wrong
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Sixth 100
act, already, appear, aunt, baby, bat, become, body, case, cause, chance, condition, consider, continue, court, dark, demand, die, doctor, drop, eleven, enjoy, fact, fear, felt, figure, force, fourth, happen, heart, herself, himself, however, human, husband, I'll, idea, important, increase, itself, kept, king, knew, labor, law, least, lie, mark, marry, minute, moment, move, music, national, nine, often, pen, perhaps, person, plant, possible, power, president, price, produce, public, rather, real, result, ring, river, rode, serve, smile, son, sort, sound, speak, step, stood, strong, study, supply, suppose, swim, system, themselves, thousand, thus, toward, twelve, twenty, uncle, voice, well, whether, whose, wife, wonder, wrote
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Seventh 100
I encourage children to use their creative skills to make their own learning resources for the last four sets of Fry words as by this point they should be old enough to find the exercising fun and educational.
act, Africa, age, already, although, amount, angle, appear, baby, bear, beat, bed, bottom, bright, broken, build, buy, care, case, cat, century, consonant, copy, couldn’t, count, cross, dictionary, died, dress, either, everyone, everything, exactly, factors, fight, fingers, floor, fraction, free, French, gold, hair, hill, hole, hope, ice, instead, iron, jumped, killed, lake, laughed, lead, let’s, lot, melody, metal, method, middle, milk, moment, nation, natural, outside, per, phrase, poor, possible, pounds, pushed, quiet, quite, remain, result, ride, rolled, sail, scale, section, sleep, smiled, snow, soil, solve, someone, son, speak, speed, spring, stone, surprise, tall, temperature, themselves, tiny, trip, type, village, within, wonder
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Eighth 100
alone, art, bad, bank, bit, break, brown, burning, business, captain, catch, caught, cents, child, choose, clean, climbed, cloud, coast, continued, control, cool, cost, decimal, desert, design, direct, drawing, ears, east, else, engine, England, equal, experiment, express, feeling, fell, flow, foot, garden, gas, glass, God, grew, history, human, hunting, increase, information, itself, joined, key, lady, law, least, lost, maybe, mouth, party, pay, period, plains, please, practice, president, received, report, ring, rise, row, save, seeds, sent, separate, serve, shouted, single, skin, statement, stick, straight, strange, students, suppose, symbols, team, touch, trouble, uncle, valley, visit, wear, whose, wire, woman, wrote, yard, you’re, yourself
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Ninth 100
addition, army, bell, belong, block, blood, blow, board, bones, branches, cattle, chief, compare, compound, consider, cook, corner, crops, crowd, current, doctor, dollars, eight, electric, elements, enjoy, entered, except, exciting, expect, famous, fit, flat, fruit, fun, guess, hat, hit, indicate, industry, insects, interesting, Japanese, lie, lifted, loud, major, mall, meat, mine, modern, movement, necessary, observe, park, particular, planets, poem, pole, position, process, property, provide, rather, rhythm, rich, safe, sand, science, sell, send, sense, seven, sharp, shoulder, sight, silent, soldiers, spot, spread, stream, string, suggested, supply, swim, terms, thick, thin, thus, tied, tone, trade, tube, value, wash, wasn’t, weight, wife, wings, won’t
Single Page, Fry Frequency Word List - Tenth 100
action, actually, adjective, afraid, agreed, ahead, allow, apple, arrived, born, bought, British, capital, chance, chart, church, column, company, conditions, corn, cotton, cows, create, dead, deal, death, details, determine, difficult, division, doesn’t, effect, entire, especially, evening, experience, factories, fair, fear, fig, forward, France, fresh, Greek, gun, hoe, huge, isn’t, led, level, located, march, match, molecules, northern, nose, office, opposite, oxygen, plural, prepared, pretty, printed, radio, repeated, rope, rose, score, seat, settled, shoes, shop, similar, sir, sister, smell, solution, southern, steel, stretched, substances, suffix, sugar, tools, total, track, triangle, truck, underline, various, view, Washington, we’ll, western, win, women, workers, wouldn’t, wrong, yellow