What is the Dolch list?

The Dolch list is a list of commonly used English words (not nouns); most of the words must be recognized by sight and can not be sounded out phonetically. They get their name from Edward William Dolch, PhD, who compiled the list and published it in his 1948 bookProblems in Reading. The word list is based on children’s reading materials and consists of the most frequently used 220 words that children must know to read. In addition, Dolch compiled a separate list of 95 words that are nouns that are most commonly used.