Dolch nouns: the 95 picture words, grouped by topic
Alongside the 220 service words, Dolch published a list of 95 common nouns, such as apple, bird, house, mother and water. Here they are grouped by topic, with audio for every word, sentences and a listening game.
Dolch nouns list (95 words)
Tap a word to hear it.
People and family
Animals
The body
Food and drink
At home
Toys and things
Outdoors and nature
Time and events
Dolch nouns game: listen and find
Hear a word from the list and pick it from four look-alike words. Eight rounds, about two minutes.
Short answer
What are the Dolch nouns?
The Dolch nouns are a list of 95 common nouns compiled by Edward W. Dolch to accompany his 220 service words. They are everyday, picturable words such as apple, ball, bird, cat, house, mother, school, tree and water. Unlike the service words, they are usually taught with pictures, and many of them, such as cat, dog, bed and duck, can be sounded out with basic phonics.
- The Dolch nouns list has 95 words, from apple to wood.
- The list includes two capitalised entries, Christmas and Santa Claus.
- Many Dolch nouns are regular CVC or blend words, such as cat, dog, pig, bed, sun, hill, nest and duck.
- Irregular nouns on the list include eye, children, money, water, mother and brother.
About dolch nouns
Edward Dolch kept nouns off his main service word list because they change so much from book to book: one story is about a dog, the next about a boat. He published them separately as a list of 95 common nouns that children meet in early reading, from apple to wood. The list includes two capitalised entries, Christmas and Santa Claus, which appear in the time and events group; they are a good moment to point out that names of special days and people start with a capital letter.
Nouns are easier than service words in one way: you can picture them. A child who sounds out d-u-ck and sees a picture of a duck gets immediate proof they read it right. Many of the nouns are also regular: cat, dog, pig, bed, box, egg, nest, sun, top, hill, bell, doll, back, duck, stick and hand can be sounded out with CVC, blend and digraph skills. Others use later patterns: cake, game, home, time and fire end in silent e; tree, seed, sheep, rain, boat, coat, day, way and toy use vowel teams; bird, girl, farm, car, corn and horse are r-controlled. The true heart words are a small group, including eye, children, mother, brother, money, water and squirrel.
The same principle applies as for the service words: children remember a word best when they have connected its letters to its sounds, not just its shape or its picture (share1995). Pictures are useful for checking meaning, but they should come after the child has tried to read the word, not before, or the child learns to guess from the picture. Grouping the nouns by topic, as on this page, gives each practice session a theme and a natural set of sentences.
Dolch nouns in sentences
Practice sentences built from words on this list.
- The duck is on the water.
- My sister has a red ball.
- A bird sat in the nest.
- Put the apple on the table.
- The farmer has a cow and a horse.
- We had cake at the party.
- Look out the window at the snow.
- A squirrel ran up the tree.
Common mix-ups with dolch nouns
Man and men
One vowel changes the meaning from one to many. Say both slowly: /m/ /a/ /n/ and /m/ /e/ /n/. The same one-to-many change happens in foot and feet, and feet is also on this list.
Guessing from the picture
If your child says puppy for dog or bunny for rabbit, they are reading the picture, not the word. Cover the picture, have them sound out the word, and only then show the picture to check.
Mother, brother and other
All three have o saying /u/ and th in the middle. That is the heart part: once your child learns it in mother, brother follows. Father looks similar but its a says /ah/.
Dolch nouns activities
Picture match after reading
Put word cards face up and picture cards face down. Your child reads a word, then turns over pictures until they find the match. Reading comes first, so the picture checks the reading rather than replacing it.
Topic scavenger hunt
Choose a group, such as at home, and give your child the word cards. They read each card and stick it on the matching object: door, chair, table, window. Walking to the real thing links the word to its meaning.
Sort by sound pattern
Mix nouns from different groups and sort them by how they are spelled: short vowel (cat, bed, pig), silent e (cake, home), vowel team (tree, boat) and heart words (eye, water). Your child reads each card as it goes into a pile.
Draw and label
Your child draws a picture, such as a farm, and labels everything they can with Dolch nouns: cow, pig, horse, tree, farmer. Writing each label while saying the sounds builds spelling and reading at once.
Dolch nouns: frequently asked questions
How many Dolch nouns are there?
There are 95, all shown in the word grid on this page. Two of them, Christmas and Santa Claus, are capitalised because they are names.
What grade are Dolch nouns for?
Dolch did not assign the nouns to a grade. They are usually taught from kindergarten through second grade, alongside the service word lists.
Why are nouns a separate Dolch list?
Nouns change from book to book depending on the topic, so Dolch kept them apart from the 220 service words that appear in almost every text.
Should Dolch nouns be taught with pictures?
Pictures help with meaning, but let your child try to read the word first. Showing the picture before reading teaches guessing instead of decoding.
Practise next
- Pre-k sight wordsThe Dolch pre-primer list is the first set of 40 sight words, including a, the, I, you and said. It is often used as the pre-k and preschool sight words list. Hear every word, read the sentences and play the game at the bottom.
- Kindergarten sight wordsThe Dolch primer list is the second set of sight words, 52 words such as are, was, they, have and what. It is the list most often used for kindergarten. Hear every word, read the sentences and play the game at the bottom.
- Short a wordsShort a is the sound in cat, map and bag, and it is usually the first vowel children blend. Hear every word, try the sentences, and play the game at the bottom.
- Third grade sight wordsThe Dolch third grade list is the last of the five service word lists: 41 words such as about, laugh, eight, together and myself. Hear every word, read the sentences and play the game at the bottom.