Primary 1 spelling words: high-frequency words

Primary 1 · 25 words · Updated 2026-09-17

1. the
2. and
3. is
4. was
5. are
6. you
7. they
8. said
9. have
10. come
11. some
12. there
13. what
14. when
15. with
16. this
17. that
18. from
19. were
20. here
21. like
22. want
23. went
24. look
25. help

How to practise these words

Many of these words cannot be sounded out, so a child has to know them by sight and by feel rather than by rule. Say the word aloud, ask your child to write it without looking, then show them the word and let them check it themselves. Five or six words an evening is plenty at this age; a short session your child finishes is worth more than a long one they give up on. Come back to the words they missed the next day rather than starting the whole list again, because the words they already know cost time and teach nothing. If a word goes wrong three evenings running, write it on a card and stick it where they will see it at breakfast.

Where these words come from

These are the words that appear most often in early reading books, drawn from the public-domain Dolch and Fry frequency lists rather than from any one school's spelling programme. They are worth learning first because a child who can spell them has most of the joining words in an ordinary sentence already covered.