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Myth: In order to develop fluent readers, phonics must be supplemented with sight words memorized by rote.
This myth is prevalent in schools and is also found in many popular phonics curriculum. However, it is indeed a myth -- one that has often resulted in students being taught sight words before they are taught phonics, and one that has often conveyed to students that letters may or may not have a meaningful role in the word or anything to do with sounds. This has led to students being confused about whether reading at its most elementary level is about sounds or words.The primary reason this myth is so widely accepted is because English has a complex phonetic code which remains largely unknown, not only to the average person, but to a vast majority of elementary school teachers and reading specialists. A vast majority of English speakers, including teachers, have been taught an oversimplified version of the phonetic code which results in hundreds of thousands of words appearing to be exceptions.
https://www.logicofenglish.com/blog/47-literacy-myths/421-the-five-myths-of-phonics