Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo cards
Dolch pre-primer: 40 words for Pre-K. A 5x5 card with a free center shows 24 of them (card 1 starts with "it", "here" and "up"), so a class of 30 gets 30 different cards; 12 words have 3 letters and 4 start with the letter I.
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
it | here | up | my | run |
one | to | see | I | and |
yellow | two | FREE | look | where |
is | the | find | a | down |
can | play | me | help | big |
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Edit words (40)
Cards update as you type. Long entries shrink to fit their square; a very long single word is split over two lines with a hyphen (up to 40 characters each). The PDF uses a built-in font: emoji and non-Latin scripts print best with Print cards.
Caller sheet
Every call in a shuffled order. Tick each one as you read it out; the same share link always gives the same order.
Updated
About this list: Dolch pre-primer
Dolch pre-primer is one of the five graded Dolch service-word lists, the level matched to Pre-K. Its 40 words average 3.3 letters, from "a" to "yellow", and 9 of them start with a vowel.
Source: Dolch's published lists, 220 service words and 95 nouns (Dolch, E. W. "A Basic Sight Vocabulary." The Elementary School Journal 36(6), 1936, pp. 456-460; Dolch, E. W. Problems in Reading. Garrard Press, 1948). The words are taken from revision 1094285022 (June 21, 2022) of the Wikipedia "Dolch word list" article, checked against those published totals on 2026-10-23.
All 40 words, A to Z
From "a" to "you", grouped by first letter (20 letters used); all 40 are loaded in the generator above.
- A: a, and, away
- B: big, blue
- C: can, come
- D: down
- F: find, for, funny
- G: go
- H: help, here
- I: I, in, is, it
- J: jump
- L: little, look
- M: make, me, my
- N: not
- O: one
- P: play
- R: red, run
- S: said, see
- T: the, three, to, two
- U: up
- W: we, where
- Y: yellow, you
Word lengths in Dolch pre-primer
"a" and "I", the 1-letter words, are the easiest to spot; 12 of the 40 have 3 letters, and the longest, "yellow", "little", "where" and "three", are the ones to pre-teach.
| Letters | Words | Share | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 letter | 2 | 5% | a, I |
| 2 letters | 9 | 23% | go, in, is, it, me, my |
| 3 letters | 12 | 30% | and, big, can, for, not, one |
| 4 letters | 12 | 30% | away, blue, come, down, find, help |
| 5 letters | 3 | 8% | funny, three, where |
| 6 letters | 2 | 5% | little, yellow |
Most common first letters
"I", "in", "is" and "it" all start with the letter I: call them far apart.
| First letter | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| I | 4 | I, in, is, it |
| T | 4 | the, three, to, two |
| A | 3 | a, and, away |
| F | 3 | find, for, funny |
| M | 3 | make, me, my |
| B | 2 | big, blue |
| C | 2 | can, come |
| H | 2 | help, here |
Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo at a glance
| Words | 40, from "a" to "you" in A-Z order |
|---|---|
| Grade | Pre-K |
| Card | 5x5 card with a free center: 24 of the 40 words |
| Different cards possible | about 3.90 × 10³⁴ (order matters) |
| Different word selections | 62,852,101,650 sets of 24 words |
| Average word length | 3.3 letters ("a" to "yellow") |
| Expected calls to fill one card | 39.4 of 40 |
Overlap with other lists
"a" and 39 more of these words also appear in Dolch kindergarten (pre-primer and primer). Every list that shares words with this one, largest share first:
| List | Shared words | Share of these 40 | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolch kindergarten (pre-primer and primer) | 40 | 100% | a, and, away, big, blue |
| All 220 Dolch sight words | 40 | 100% | a, and, away, big, blue |
| Complete Dolch list (220 words and 95 nouns) | 40 | 100% | a, and, away, big, blue |
| Three-letter Dolch sight words | 12 | 30% | and, big, can, for, not |
| Four-letter Dolch sight words | 12 | 30% | away, blue, come, down, find |
| Two-letter Dolch sight words | 9 | 23% | go, in, is, it, me |
How long a round takes
150 shuffled orders of the 40 words, played on this set's first 30 cards. With 20 children the first line usually comes on call 13 ("and" in this set's order), about 3 minutes at one word every 15 seconds.
| Class size | First line (median) | First line, 80% of games | First full card (median) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 children | 15 calls | 11-18 | 38 calls |
| 20 children | 13 calls | 10-16 | 37 calls |
| 30 children | 12 calls | 9-15 | 37 calls |
How to play Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo
-
Pre-teach the long words
Read "yellow", "little", "where" and "three" together before the game; they are the longest of the 40.
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Print one card per child
Card 1 starts with "it", "here", "up", "my" and "run"; every other card mixes the 40 words differently, so no two children share a card.
-
Call, say and use each word
Say "to", use it in a short sentence, then spell it if needed; this set continues with "for", "run", "little" and "play".
-
Check the winning line
With these calls, card 18 wins first on call 13 with the diagonal from the top left: "the", "play", "run" and "and". Ask the winner to read the words back.
-
Review the words that were not called
When card 18 wins on call 13, 27 words are still uncalled, such as "said", "go" and "funny"; read them together or put them on the next review list. 9 of the 40 start with a vowel ("a", "and" and "away").
Other sight word lists
Frequently asked questions
How many words are in Dolch pre-primer?
40 words for Pre-K, from "a" to "you". Each card uses 24, so 16 stay off every card; the shortest word is "a" and the longest is "yellow".
Are all Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo cards the same?
No. About 3.90 × 10³⁴ different cards are possible (62,852,101,650 different selections of 24 words). Card 1 and card 2 of this set share 16 of their 24 words, and no card repeats inside one set.
How long does a round of Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo take?
With 20 children, Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo reaches its first line after about 13 calls (10-16 in 80% of simulated games), roughly 3 minutes at one word every 15 seconds; a full card takes about 37 of the 40 calls.
Can I print Dolch pre-primer sight word bingo cards for a whole class for free?
Yes. A free set prints up to 30 different cards from the 40 words, one per child for a class of 30: Print cards sends them to your printer and Download PDF saves one card per page (30 pages plus the caller sheet). With 30 children the first line comes after about 12 calls, with 10 after about 15.
Can I mix Dolch pre-primer with another list?
Yes: paste both lists into the generator and duplicates are removed automatically. Dolch kindergarten (pre-primer and primer) is the closest match: it shares 40 of these 40 words (100%) and adds 52 new words, for 92 in total.