Which word would be most appropriate to teach first graders as a sight word?

• A. know
• B. fire
• C. drink
• D. pain

Answer: (A)

Teaching sight words means choosing high-frequency words that kids should recognize instantly rather than sound out letter by letter. The best pick here is know. It’s a very common word in early reading materials, but its spelling doesn’t map neatly to its pronunciation—the initial kn makes an /n/ sound with a silent K, and the ow is pronounced /oʊ/ rather than sounding out each letter. Because it’s frequent and irregular, students benefit from memorizing it as a sight word to read smoothly without getting stuck on decoding. The other options can be sounded out using basic phonics patterns: fire follows familiar vowel patterns, drink fits a regular consonant-vowel-consonant pattern, and pain uses the ai digraph but is still a word students can learn through decoding. So know is the most appropriate first sight word to teach.