Dolch primer sight word bingo cards
Dolch primer: 52 words for Kindergarten. A 5x5 card with a free center shows 24 of them (card 1 starts with "was", "did" and "what"), so a class of 30 gets 30 different cards; 19 words have 3 letters and 9 start with the letter W.
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
was | did | what | four | say |
want | am | ate | with | all |
went | but | FREE | please | eat |
soon | are | at | she | white |
new | ride | now | out | under |
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Edit words (52)
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 primer
Dolch primer is one of the five graded Dolch service-word lists, the level matched to Kindergarten. Its 52 words average 3.5 letters, from "am" to "pretty", and 11 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 52 words, A to Z
From "all" to "yes", grouped by first letter (20 letters used); all 52 are loaded in the generator above.
- A: all, am, are, at, ate
- B: be, black, brown, but
- C: came
- D: did, do
- E: eat
- F: four
- G: get, good
- H: have, he
- I: into
- L: like
- M: must
- N: new, no, now
- O: on, our, out
- P: please, pretty
- R: ran, ride
- S: saw, say, she, so, soon
- T: that, there, they, this, too
- U: under
- W: want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with
- Y: yes
Word lengths in Dolch primer
"am" and seven other 2-letter words are the easiest to spot; 19 of the 52 have 3 letters, and the longest, "pretty", "please", "white" and "under", are the ones to pre-teach.
| Letters | Words | Share | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 letters | 8 | 15% | am, at, be, do, he, no |
| 3 letters | 19 | 37% | all, are, ate, but, did, eat |
| 4 letters | 18 | 35% | came, four, good, have, into, like |
| 5 letters | 5 | 10% | black, brown, there, under, white |
| 6 letters | 2 | 4% | please, pretty |
Most common first letters
"want", "was", "well" and "went" all start with the letter W: call them far apart.
| First letter | Words | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| W | 9 | want, was, well, went, what, white |
| A | 5 | all, am, are, at, ate |
| S | 5 | saw, say, she, so, soon |
| T | 5 | that, there, they, this, too |
| B | 4 | be, black, brown, but |
| N | 3 | new, no, now |
| O | 3 | on, our, out |
| D | 2 | did, do |
Dolch primer sight word bingo at a glance
| Words | 52, from "all" to "yes" in A-Z order |
|---|---|
| Grade | Kindergarten |
| Card | 5x5 card with a free center: 24 of the 52 words |
| Different cards possible | about 2.65 × 10³⁸ (order matters) |
| Different word selections | 426,384,982,032,100 sets of 24 words |
| Average word length | 3.5 letters ("am" to "pretty") |
| Expected calls to fill one card | 50.9 of 52 |
Overlap with other lists
"all" and 51 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 52 | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dolch kindergarten (pre-primer and primer) | 52 | 100% | all, am, are, at, ate |
| All 220 Dolch sight words | 52 | 100% | all, am, are, at, ate |
| Complete Dolch list (220 words and 95 nouns) | 52 | 100% | all, am, are, at, ate |
| Three-letter Dolch sight words | 19 | 37% | all, are, ate, but, did |
| Four-letter Dolch sight words | 18 | 35% | came, four, good, have, into |
| Two-letter Dolch sight words | 8 | 15% | am, at, be, do, he |
How long a round takes
150 shuffled orders of the 52 words, played on this set's first 30 cards. With 20 children the first line usually comes on call 16 ("there" in this set's order), about 4 minutes at one word every 15 seconds.
| Class size | First line (median) | First line, 80% of games | First full card (median) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 children | 18 calls | 13-23 | 48 calls |
| 20 children | 16 calls | 12-21 | 48 calls |
| 30 children | 14 calls | 10-18 | 47 calls |
How to play Dolch primer sight word bingo
-
Pre-teach the long words
Read "pretty", "please", "white" and "under" together before the game; they are the longest of the 52.
-
Print one card per child
Card 1 starts with "was", "did", "what", "four" and "say"; every other card mixes the 52 words differently, so no two children share a card.
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Call, say and use each word
Say "now", use it in a short sentence, then spell it if needed; this set continues with "went", "he", "they" and "ride".
-
Check the winning line
With these calls, card 25 wins first on call 12 with the diagonal from the top left: "do", "ride", "who" and "am". Ask the winner to read the words back.
-
Review the words that were not called
When card 25 wins on call 12, 40 words are still uncalled, such as "no", "saw" and "must"; read them together or put them on the next review list. 11 of the 52 start with a vowel ("all", "am" and "are").
Other sight word lists
Frequently asked questions
How many words are in Dolch primer?
52 words for Kindergarten, from "all" to "yes". Each card uses 24, so 28 stay off every card; the shortest word is "am" and the longest is "pretty".
Are all Dolch primer sight word bingo cards the same?
No. About 2.65 × 10³⁸ different cards are possible (426,384,982,032,100 different selections of 24 words). Card 1 and card 2 of this set share 12 of their 24 words, and no card repeats inside one set.
How long does a round of Dolch primer sight word bingo take?
With 20 children, Dolch primer sight word bingo reaches its first line after about 16 calls (12-21 in 80% of simulated games), roughly 4 minutes at one word every 15 seconds; a full card takes about 48 of the 52 calls.
Can I print Dolch primer sight word bingo cards for a whole class for free?
Yes. A free set prints up to 30 different cards from the 52 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 14 calls, with 10 after about 18.
Can I mix Dolch 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 52 of these 52 words (100%) and adds 40 new words, for 92 in total.