Handwriting Practice Worksheets

Tracing Worksheets

By , Handwriting Practice Worksheets

Turn any word list or sentence into tracing worksheets with dotted rows. Start from a Dolch sight word list or type this week's words.

Your text
Trace

Read, trace, write puts each word in three boxes: read it, trace it, then write it alone.

Picking a list fills the box below. You can edit it after.

One word or sentence per line.

Look
Handwriting style

Height from the top line to the baseline.

Trace style

Fading rows get lighter row by row. Yellow works like tracing over a highlighter.

Tracing darkness

Printed too faint? Pick Dark.

Starting dots

A green dot shows where each letter or number starts, and the arrow shows which way the first stroke goes. Works on traced print letters, numbers and single cursive lowercase letters.

Letter spacing

More space between letters helps writers who crowd them together. Print styles only, since cursive letters stay joined.

Row spacing
Rows
Paper
Orientation

Landscape gives longer rows.

Line weight
Highlighted writing band

Shades the space between the dashed line and the baseline on 3- and 4-line paper. Sky, grass, ground colors the top, middle and tail spaces.

For example: Trace each word, then write it on your own.

Loading the handwriting fonts…

Download PDF saves the pages as a file. You can also press Print worksheet and choose "Save as PDF" in the print window.

What you type stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

How to make a tracing worksheet

  1. Type your words, one per line, or choose a Dolch sight word list to fill the box.
  2. Pick Words to repeat each word across its own row, or Sentences to keep each line together.
  3. Choose the trace style and rows, then print.

Using sight word lists

The Dolch word lists are a well-known set of high-frequency words, first published by Edward William Dolch in a 1936 journal article and later in his 1948 book Problems in Reading, and still widely used in early reading. The pre-primer list has 40 words, the primer list 52, first grade 41, second grade 46, third grade 41, and there is a separate list of 95 nouns. The Fry list is a later set of common words grouped in hundreds, and the first 100 are included here. The lists are copied as published, so you can trace the same words your child is learning to read.

Sources don't all agree on every word. Some copies of the Dolch second grade list add "left", and some copies of the nouns list include "goat", "woman" and "women" instead of "good-bye". The lists here follow ReadWriteThink. Printed copies of the Fry list differ by a few words too, and the list here follows the Utah Education Network.

Read, trace, write. This layout gives each word three boxes in a row: read the word, trace it, then write it with no help. It fits about seven words on a page at 3/4 in, or about a dozen at 1/2 in. Turn on spelling boxes in the Words layout for a row of empty letter boxes under each word.

A full list is longer than one worksheet can hold. At the default settings it passes the 10-page limit and the tool trims it, so delete all but five or six words before printing and use the rest on another day.

For children who aren't ready to trace yet, try these fine motor activities before tracing.

Example: a sight word page

A first-grade teacher picks the Dolch primer list, keeps eight words from this week's lesson, and prints dotted rows at 3/4 in. Each word fills its own row, followed by a blank row for independent writing.

Questions people ask

Can I make tracing worksheets with my own words?

Yes. Type any words or sentences in the box, one per line. Choose a sight word list only if you want a starting point.

What are the Dolch sight words?

Lists of high-frequency English words compiled by Edward William Dolch: pre-primer (40 words), primer (52), first grade (41), second grade (46), third grade (41) and nouns (95). All six are in the Start from a list menu.

Can I make Fry sight word worksheets?

Yes. Pick Fry first 100 words in the Start from a list menu, then delete the words you don't need this week.

What is a read, trace, write worksheet?

A page where each word has three boxes: one to read, one to trace and one to write alone. Pick Read, trace, write under Trace.

What is the difference between Words and Sentences?

Words gives every word its own row, repeated across the line. Sentences keeps each line of text together, which is better for practicing spacing between words.

Can I trace numbers here?

Yes. You can type numbers into the box. For ranges such as 1 to 20, counting rows and number words, use the number tracing worksheet maker.

How many pages can one worksheet have?

Up to 10 pages. If a list is longer, the tool trims it and tells you, so you can split it into two worksheets.

Related worksheet makers

Sources

  1. Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary list (PDF), ReadWriteThink
  2. Dolch word list, Wikipedia
  3. Dolch Sight Words, SightWords.com
  4. Fry Instant Words, First Hundred, Utah Education Network
  5. Andika typeface, SIL International