Sight words
High-Frequency Words 201 to 300
The third band of our 500 high-frequency words, from number and city to using and area, with hangman, difficulty scores and a printable.
Read the word list
By the third hundred the lists move away from small grammar words toward content words: number, city, company, government, business, system, music, water, country. This is the part of the ranking that starts to look like adult reading material, and the first place where longer words dominate.
Only 32 of the 100 are on a Dolch list, and they are mostly the ones you would expect: play, name, night, today and read. The rest are words a child would meet in a news article or textbook, such as government, support, national and service.
Longer words are friendlier in hangman. Our data shows that 8-letter words average about 1.2 wrong guesses against 7.5 for three-letter words, so a word like different or government often falls quickly. The shorter ones, such as bad, top and job, are the ones that bite.
100 entries. Our solver needed 3.9 wrong guesses on average: 20 easy, 38 medium and 42 hard. The toughest is yet (11 misses), the quickest getting (0).
- city #201 Hard · 6
- days #202 Hard · 5
- lot #203 Hard · 5
- name #204 Medium · 2
- night #205 Hard · 5
- play #206 Hard · 7
- until #207 Medium · 3
- company #208 Medium · 3
- doing #209 Hard · 6
- few #210 Hard · 8
- let #211 Hard · 6
- real #212 Medium · 3
- called #213 Easy · 1
- different #214 Medium · 2
- having #215 Hard · 7
- set #216 Medium · 4
- thought #217 Medium · 4
- done #218 Hard · 6
- however #219 Medium · 2
- getting #220 Easy · 0
- government #221 Easy · 0
- group #222 Hard · 6
- looking #223 Hard · 5
- public #224 Medium · 4
- top #225 Hard · 7
- women #226 Medium · 4
- business #227 Easy · 0
- care #228 Hard · 5
- start #229 Easy · 1
- system #230 Medium · 2
- times #231 Medium · 4
- week #232 Hard · 6
- already #233 Easy · 1
- anything #234 Easy · 1
- case #235 Medium · 2
- nothing #236 Easy · 1
- person #237 Medium · 2
- today #238 Medium · 4
- change #239 Medium · 3
- enough #240 Easy · 1
- everything #241 Easy · 0
- full #242 Hard · 8
- making #243 Medium · 4
- point #244 Hard · 5
- read #245 Easy · 1
- told #246 Hard · 5
- yet #247 Hard · 11
- bad #248 Hard · 11
- four #249 Hard · 5
- hard #250 Hard · 5
- mean #251 Hard · 6
- once #252 Medium · 2
- support #253 Medium · 3
- tell #254 Medium · 3
- including #255 Easy · 1
- music #256 Medium · 4
- power #257 Hard · 6
- seen #258 Medium · 2
- states #259 Medium · 2
- stop #260 Hard · 6
- water #261 Hard · 5
- based #262 Medium · 3
- believe #263 Easy · 1
- call #264 Hard · 5
- head #265 Medium · 3
- men #266 Hard · 7
- national #267 Easy · 1
- small #268 Hard · 5
- took #269 Hard · 7
- white #270 Medium · 4
- came #271 Hard · 5
- far #272 Hard · 8
- job #273 Hard · 8
- side #274 Hard · 5
- though #275 Hard · 5
- try #276 Hard · 8
- went #277 Hard · 7
- yes #278 Hard · 8
- actually #279 Medium · 2
- later #280 Medium · 2
- less #281 Medium · 4
- line #282 Medium · 2
- order #283 Easy · 1
- party #284 Hard · 5
- run #285 Hard · 7
- says #286 Easy · 1
- service #287 Medium · 2
- country #288 Medium · 3
- open #289 Hard · 6
- season #290 Easy · 1
- thank #291 Medium · 4
- children #292 Easy · 1
- everyone #293 Easy · 1
- general #294 Medium · 2
- trying #295 Medium · 3
- united #296 Medium · 4
- using #297 Medium · 3
- area #298 Easy · 1
- black #299 Hard · 5
- following #300 Medium · 2
Words worth a closer look
- businessPronounced biz-ness, spelled with a u that is not heard.
- governmentContains the word govern; the n is easy to drop.
- differentDouble f, and the middle e is often skipped in speech.
- actuallyEnds in -ally; the word has four syllables.
Teaching it
This band suits spelling lists for the upper elementary years and for adults building vocabulary. Take about ten words a week, mix long and short, and set aside the worksheet answer key for the end.
Some words repeat their endings and are easy to teach as a set: -tion, -ing and -ed. Others hold doubled letters, like different, company and business. Watch for words with a silent letter or an unexpected vowel, such as business (the u is silent) and government (the n before the m).
Print a High-Frequency Words 201 to 300 worksheet
Eight puzzles on one US Letter page, with a clue, letter blanks, an empty frame to draw in, an alphabet strip to cross off and circles to count misses. Page two is the answer key.
Need another sheet?
Draw eight different words from this list, right here. Same layout, new answer key.
Keep going
- Dolch Sight WordsThe Dolch service words from pre-primer to third grade, with the history behind the list, a difficulty score for each word and hangman to practice.
- Pre-Primer Sight WordsThe 40 Dolch pre-primer words, the first level of the list, with hangman, difficulty scores and a printable worksheet and answer key.
- Primer Sight WordsAll 52 Dolch primer words, from all and am to who and yes, with hangman, per-word difficulty and a printable worksheet.
- First Grade Sight WordsThe 41 Dolch first-grade words, from after and again to walk and when, with hangman, difficulty scores and a worksheet.
- Second Grade Sight WordsThe 47 Dolch second-grade words, including because, their, would and don't, with hangman, difficulty scores and a printable.
- Third Grade Sight WordsThe 41 Dolch third-grade words, such as laugh, light, together and myself, with hangman, difficulty scores and a printable worksheet.