Heart words are high-frequency words that students learn by connecting the sounds they hear to the letters they see, while paying special attention to any irregular or “tricky” parts. To teach heart words, introduce the word, identify the sounds, map the regular letter-sound connections, mark the tricky part with a heart, and give students repeated practice reading and writing the word. This approach helps students move beyond memorization and build automatic word recognition.
I know you’re here to learn how to teach heart words, so let’s start with the basics. The term heart words is often used to describe high-frequency words that students need to know automatically. These may include words from Dolch or Fry word lists, as well as words that appear often in early reading.
Helping students read heart words with automaticity supports fluency because students spend less time trying to figure out common words and more time focusing on meaning.
What You’ll Find in This Post
In this post, you’ll learn:
- What heart words are
- The difference between heart words, sight words, and high-frequency words
- Why heart word instruction supports Science of Reading-aligned teaching
- A simple 4-step routine for teaching heart words
- Easy heart word practice ideas for small groups, intervention, and independent work
What Are Heart Words, Sight Words, and High-Frequency Words?
Some people use heart words, sight words, and high-frequency words interchangeably but that’s actually an incorrect use of the term sight words. For even more information about heart words visit this Really Great Reading post.
When learning about heart words you’ll probably encounter the terms “simple heart words,” “tricky heart words,” or “flash words.” That refers to how decodable the word is. For example, the word “what” has regular, initial, and final sounds but the medial /a/ makes an irregular sound. That’s a tricky heart word. In some places, the only words referred to as “heart words” are these tricky irregular words. The word “with” is a high-frequency word that students can decode once they have the necessary phonics skills. That makes it a simple heart word or a flash word.
Why Should Teachers Use the Heart Word Method?
So, why should you change the way you teach high-frequency words? Heart words are science of reading (SOR) aligned. There are a lot of big shifts happening in reading instruction and high-frequency words are no exception.
Amazingly, 63% of the Dolch list is decodable! That last 27%, about 60ish words, need to be explicitly taught. Teaching students those tricky heart words is about relying on orthographic mapping instead of just rote memorization of the word as a whole. Learn more about orthographic mapping in this post.
How Do You Teach Heart Words Step by Step?
For all the high-frequency words that are decodable, explicitly teaching our students to connect phonemes and sounds give most students the tools they need to read them. This excellent post from Reading Rockets dives deep into the high-frequency words, which are decodable and what order they can be introduced in. If you want a student-friendly introduction video, Really Great reading has an excellent one.
Step 1: Introduce the Word
We’re going to start with some direct instruction. Introduce the word you’re working on during the lesson. Identify and count the sounds in the word. Have your students repeat after you. You can represent the sounds by simply tapping them out on the colored dots on the Heart Words page shown below. You can also use playdoh balls or colored squares. Focus on the sounds. If we use the word want as an example heart word, students would repeat the word “want” then tap out the 4 sounds in the word.
Why it works: Starting with the spoken word helps students focus on the sounds before connecting those sounds to letters.
Step 2: Build the Word
In this step, start building the word with you as you identify the regular sounds in the word. In our example, you can identify and write down (or build using magnets) the letters w, n, t.
Why it works: Building the word helps students see which sounds are spelled in a regular, expected way.
Step 3: Mark the Heart Part
Discuss the part of the word that is irregular. On your heart word page, write down the letter(s) that make the irregular sounds and use a little heart symbol above the irregular section or draw a big heart around that section/letter. Whichever you prefer. The goal is simply to bring attention to the piece of the word that your students will have to know by heart!
Why it works: Marking the heart part draws attention to the irregular spelling pattern students need to remember.
Step 4: Practice!
Practice! Have students write their focus word on the included three lines and mark the “heart part.” There’s also a section to use their heart word in a sentence. Remind your students to keep marking the heart part to help focus their attention on the piece they’ll need to memorize.
Why it works: Repeated reading, writing, and sentence practice help students store the word for automatic recognition.
Key Takeaways About Teaching Heart Words
- Heart words are high-frequency words students need to recognize automatically.
- Many high-frequency words are decodable once students know the needed phonics skills.
- Tricky heart words include one or more irregular parts that need explicit instruction.
- The heart word method helps students connect sounds to letters instead of memorizing the whole word by shape.
- A simple routine of saying, tapping, mapping, marking, and practicing can make heart word instruction more effective.
What Are Easy Ways for Students to Practice Heart Words?
When students are ready for independent practice, try this collection of over 150 heart word practice sheets. (Perfect for morning work!)
What Other Science of Reading Resources Can Help?
If you’re working on ensuring that your reading instruction is science of reading aligned, we’ve got a lot of great and easy-to-understand information for you! Check out the posts below for more!
- Resources to Teach Science of Reading Components
- Spelling Activities for the Science of Reading Classroom
- Science of Reading Sample Literacy Block Schedule
Frequently Asked Questions About Heart Words
What are heart words?
Heart words are high-frequency words that students learn by connecting sounds to letters and paying special attention to any irregular or tricky spelling parts.
Are heart words the same as sight words?
Not exactly. A sight word is any word a reader can recognize automatically. Heart words are often high-frequency words taught by mapping the sounds, letters, and irregular parts.
Why do students need to mark the heart part?
Students mark the heart part so they know which part of the word does not follow the expected sound-spelling pattern. This helps them focus on the part they need to remember by heart.
Are all high-frequency words heart words?
Many high-frequency words can be taught with the heart word routine, but some are fully decodable once students have learned the needed phonics skills. Those words may not have a tricky part.
How often should students practice heart words?
Students benefit from short, repeated practice across several days. Practice can include reading the word, writing the word, marking the heart part, and using the word in a sentence.
Get Everything You Need to Teach Heart Words
12 Responses
Hello! What brand of the plastic sleeves did you use for the photos above? They look very sturdy. Thank you!
Hello Kerry! Here is a link to the plastic sleeves we recommend on Amazon. Have a great day!
I’m a retired elem. sch. teacher. For eleven yrs. I was a Title 1 reading teacher. Of course most of your methods/strategies are new to me i.e. terms such as heart words (but I DO understand “learn by heart”)
. At the top of the work page it says “rhyme it”. Yes, this is trivial, but does that mean think of a rhyming word? Right now I can’t think of a single word that rhymes with want. I’d appreciate an explanation. Sincerely, Mrs. “Glee-nuh” Lambert
Hello Glenna! The routine does in fact call for thinking of a rhyming word. This helps activate phonemic awareness of the sounds in the heart word. If there is not a word that rhymes (like with the word “want”), think of another way to activate phonemic awareness of the sounds in the word. For example, “what is another word that starts with /W/? What is another word that ends with /nt/?” I hope this helps!
font, jaunt, gaunt, haunt, croissant, restaurant, taunt, aunt, Vermont
Hi! Do you sell the Heart Word explanation sheet by it self? I’m looking for something to help parents understand how/why their kindergartners are learning words as Heart Words.
Hello Suzann! I’m sorry, we do not sell a stand alone parent explanation sheet to go with the heart words resource. Thanks for your comment!
Hi! How many heart words do you teach a week? Do you have a weekly routine you follow? Is this something you recommend doing whole group or small group? I teach grade 3 and a lot of my students would benefit from learning heart words, but I’m not sure where to fit it into my schedule or how much practice to give them each week. Thanks!
Hello Cassidy! We would recommend doing it as a warm up during small group in 3rd grade and working through a few a week. I hope this helps!
Hi there, I am about to introduce the heart word concept. When a child is reading a text they’ve never read and are adept at sounding out, what explanation should teachers give when the child comes across a word that makes no sense when sounding out e.g. do.
Hello Paula, Great question! The best way to handle this is to tell students the word and explain that part is irregular. So –
“The word is do. In this word, the o represents the /ooo/ sound.”
I teach the heart word in this way, and we practice with independent practice sheets. However, students continue to spell these words incorrectly. Do you have any other ideas for practicing?