THE MOST COMMON WORDS IN ENGLISH

The 500 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language

Based on the combined results of British English, American English and Australian English surveys of contemporary sources in English: newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio and real life conversations - the language as it is written and spoken today.

Click here to see the top 100 verbs!

Rank	Word	Rank	Word
1	the	126	name
2	of	127	very
3	to	128	through
4	and	129	just
5	a	130	form
6	in	131	much
7	is	132	great
8	it	133	think
9	you	134	say
10	that	135	help
11	he	136	low
12	was	137	line
13	for	138	before
14	on	139	turn
15	are	140	cause
16	with	141	same
17	as	142	mean
18	I	143	differ
19	his	144	move
20	they	145	right
21	be	146	boy
22	at	147	old
23	one	148	too
24	have	149	does
25	this	150	tell
26	from	151	sentence
27	or	152	set
28	had	153	three
29	by	154	want
30	hot	155	air
31	but	156	well
32	some	157	also
33	what	158	play
34	there	159	small
35	we	160	end
36	can	161	put
37	out	162	home
38	other	163	read
39	were	164	hand
40	all	165	port
41	your	166	large
42	when	167	spell
43	up	168	add
44	use	169	even
45	word	170	land
46	how	171	here
47	said	172	must
48	an	173	big
49	each	174	high
50	she	175	such
51	which	176	follow
52	do	177	act
53	their	178	why
54	time	179	ask
55	if	180	men
56	will	181	change
57	way	182	went
58	about	183	light
59	many	184	kind
60	then	185	off
61	them	186	need
62	would	187	house
63	write	188	picture
64	like	189	try
65	so	190	us
66	these	191	again
67	her	192	animal
68	long	193	point
69	make	194	mother
70	thing	195	world
71	see	196	near
72	him	197	build
73	two	198	self
74	has	199	earth
75	look	200	father
76	more	201	head
77	day	202	stand
78	could	203	own
79	go	204	page
80	come	205	should
81	did	206	country
82	my	207	found
83	sound	208	answer
84	no	209	school
85	most	210	grow
86	number	211	study
87	who	212	still
88	over	213	learn
89	know	214	plant
90	water	215	cover
91	than	216	food
92	call	217	sun
93	first	218	four
94	people	219	thought
95	may	220	let
96	down	221	keep
97	side	222	eye
98	been	223	never
99	now	224	last
100	find	225	door
101	any	226	between
102	new	227	city
103	work	228	tree
104	part	229	cross
105	take	230	since
106	get	231	hard
107	place	232	start
108	made	233	might
109	live	234	story
110	where	235	saw
111	after	236	far
112	back	237	sea
113	little	238	draw
114	only	239	left
115	round	240	late
116	man	241	run
117	year	242	don't
118	came	243	while
119	show	244	press
120	every	245	close
121	good	246	night
122	me	247	real
123	give	248	life
124	our	249	few
125	under	250	stop

Rank	Word	Rank	Word
251	open	376	ten
252	seem	377	simple
253	together	378	several
254	next	379	vowel
255	white	380	toward
256	children	381	war
257	begin	382	lay
258	got	383	against
259	walk	384	pattern
260	example	385	slow
261	ease	386	center
262	paper	387	love
263	often	388	person
264	always	389	money
265	music	390	serve
266	those	391	appear
267	both	392	road
268	mark	393	map
269	book	394	science
270	letter	395	rule
271	until	396	govern
272	mile	397	pull
273	river	398	cold
274	car	399	notice
275	feet	400	voice
276	care	401	fall
277	second	402	power
278	group	403	town
279	carry	404	fine
280	took	405	certain
281	rain	406	fly
282	eat	407	unit
283	room	408	lead
284	friend	409	cry
285	began	410	dark
286	idea	411	machine
287	fish	412	note
288	mountain	413	wait
289	north	414	plan
290	once	415	figure
291	base	416	star
292	hear	417	box
293	horse	418	noun
294	cut	419	field
295	sure	420	rest
296	watch	421	correct
297	color	422	able
298	face	423	pound
299	wood	424	done
300	main	425	beauty
301	enough	426	drive
302	plain	427	stood
303	girl	428	contain
304	usual	429	front
305	young	430	teach
306	ready	431	week
307	above	432	final
308	ever	433	gave
309	red	434	green
310	list	435	oh
311	though	436	quick
312	feel	437	develop
313	talk	438	sleep
314	bird	439	warm
315	soon	440	free
316	body	441	minute
317	dog	442	strong
318	family	443	special
319	direct	444	mind
320	pose	445	behind
321	leave	446	clear
322	song	447	tail
323	measure	448	produce
324	state	449	fact
325	product	450	street
326	black	451	inch
327	short	452	lot
328	numeral	453	nothing
329	class	454	course
330	wind	455	stay
331	question	456	wheel
332	happen	457	full
333	complete	458	force
334	ship	459	blue
335	area	460	object
336	half	461	decide
337	rock	462	surface
338	order	463	deep
339	fire	464	moon
340	south	465	island
341	problem	466	foot
342	piece	467	yet
343	told	468	busy
344	knew	469	test
345	pass	470	record
346	farm	471	boat
347	top	472	common
348	whole	473	gold
349	king	474	possible
350	size	475	plane
351	heard	476	age
352	best	477	dry
353	hour	478	wonder
354	better	479	laugh
355	true .	480	thousand
356	during	481	ago
357	hundred	482	ran
358	am	483	check
359	remember	484	game
360	step	485	shape
361	early	486	yes
362	hold	487	hot
363	west	488	miss
364	ground	489	brought
365	interest	490	heat
366	reach	491	snow
367	fast	492	bed
368	five	493	bring
369	sing	494	sit
370	listen	495	perhaps
371	six	496	fill
372	table	497	east
373	travel	498	weight
374	less	499	language
375	morning	500	among


Home	Forum and Chat	Test Your English	Teaching	English Language Newsletter	Contact