The purpose of this study was to determine the part of a word upon which first and fifth graders depend most in word recognition and to determine whether any change occurs between grades one and five. Fifty-six first grade students and sixty-three fifth graders were tested. The children individually read sixty words from flash cards presented by the examiner. Each word had up to one-third of its letters deleted in either the initial, middle, or final position. The words chosen were controlled for grade level, imagery rating, and consonant to vowel ratio. The findings showed that both first graders and fifth graders depend more upon the first part of a word than the other parts in reading. Fifth graders were consistently more accurate than first graders in recognizing words with any deletion pattern. On the basis of this study, it is evident that early reading instruction should focus the child's attention on the individual letters and their correspondence to pronunciation of English. (Author/TS)