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Word Bank of 1200 High-Usage Words

The words in this word bank are listed in the order of their frequency of use in everyday writing. Since the is the most frequently used word in our language, its number is one in the word bank. The first 25 words are used in 33% of everyday writing, the first 100 words appear in 50% of adult and student writing, and the first 1,000 words are used in 89% of everyday writing.

Click this link to view the Word Bank in your browser.
Click this link to download the entire list as a viewable/printable Microsoft Word 95 document.
Wordbank.doc. (36K file size)
Click this link to download/view/print the entire list as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.
Wordbank.PDF (20K file size)

Core Words

The Core Words in the Rebecca Sitton program are divided by grade levels. They are the seeds from which this spelling program grows and develops. They provide a foundation for each grade level to begin spelling exploration and are a springboard for the study of hundreds of additional words.

Grade 1 word frequencies 1-30
Grade 2 word frequencies 31-130
Grade 3 word frequencies 131-265
Grade 4 word frequencies 266-400
Grade 5 word frequencies 401-600
and beyond

"No Excuses" Words

"No Excuses" Words are those which students are held accountable. They are expected to spell them correctly in all of their everyday writing. They are taken from the list of core words. Below are the groups of words which we hope most children will master by the end of his/her grade level. Please help your child to spell these words correctly in their everyday writing. Not all classes or all children will have the same number of priority words at any given time. Spelling is both a developmental and highly individualized skill so teachers attempt to meet the needs of their classes within the framework of the program.

Grade 1 words 1-21
Grade 2 words 1-36
Grade 3 words 1-60
Grade 4 words 1-100
Grade 5 words 1-150 and beyond

See Rebecca Sitton's web site for more information on the Sitton Spelling program.