Reading a word requires knowledge of letter sounds. Blending the sounds of individual letters and letter combinations, such as "ch" or "ng," is often the first step in recognition.
Readers look for common patterns in words. The "at" pattern, used in bat, cat, and rat, helps beginning readers recognize the word "flat."
Syntactic cues are those that help readers recognize a word by understanding how language works. When reading "The man sat on a ___," the reader knows that the next word will be a noun.
The brain draws on prior experiences to aid word recognition. A child who has never seen a giraffe would not easily understand a sentence talking about the vertebra in a giraffe's neck.
Some words are automatically recognized, without thinking about each individual letter sounds. Words such as "the," "and," or "at," are frequently used sight words.