Preschool Dolch pre-primer sight words worksheets

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The Dolch pre-primer list is the first rung of the sight-word ladder: forty words like the, see, my, and jump, chosen because they fill the picture books read to three and four year olds. This Pre-K sheet prints a handful of them to trace and then write, in a big print face on penmanship guides, so the words get known by shape before school asks for them.

Free printable PDF worksheet.

Each print is a different sheet. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of words you'll practice

Trace each word two times. Then write it yourself on the line.

littleseeblueyellowonedowngofunny

Each word appears twice in light gray for tracing, then once as a blank line for writing it without help.

Every print pulls a new set of words at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different mix.

What's on a preschool sheet

Preschool sheets draw from 40 words, 6 to a page. Pre-K and kindergarten print from the same 40 words. The teaching notes below are written for this grade.

Some of the words:

awaycanherelookmakemeplaytwoupyou

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with a word list on the last page.

How to teach this

At Pre-K this is a tracing sheet first and a reading sheet second. Say the word, point to it in a book you both know, then trace it once with a finger and once with a crayon. Two words a sitting is plenty; the forty will take the year, and they should. A child who can find "the" on a page at four has done the whole job of this list.

Watch for: Pre-primer doesn't mean easy to sound out; words like said and where break beginner phonics rules on purpose, which is exactly why they're learned by sight. The list isn't alphabet practice: a child can start it while some letters are still wobbly, because the goal is recognizing whole words, not naming letters.

Common questions about preschool Dolch pre-primer sight words

Is Pre-K too early for sight words?
Not for these forty. The pre-primer list was built for the year before kindergarten, and a child who is being read to already knows the words by ear. The sheet adds the shape.
How many words on a sheet?
Six, drawn fresh from the forty on each print, each traced and then written once. Print another sheet for another six.

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Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 240, updated October 2026.

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