Vocabulary / English
All 5,000 most common English words
The full frequency list with meanings and transcriptions, in the order you will actually meet the words. Prefer the short version with the reading notes? The top 1,000.
| # | English | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | whatʍɒt | the thing or things that |
| 2 | getɡɪt | obtain or receive |
| 3 | goɡə | move or travel |
| 4 | knownəʊ | to be aware or have information |
| 5 | comekəm | move toward or arrive |
| 6 | likelaɪ̯k | enjoy or prefer |
| 7 | thinkˈθæŋk | use one's mind to consider |
| 8 | rightɹʌɪt | correct or proper |
| 9 | wantwɒnt | desire or wish for |
| 10 | aboutəˈbɐʊ̯t | approximately or concerning |
| 11 | seeˈsiː | perceive with one's eyes |
| 12 | sayseɪ | speak or utter words |
| 13 | nownæʊ | at the present time |
| 14 | wellˈwɛʊ̯ | in a good manner |
| 15 | looklʊk | direct eyes toward something |
| 16 | takeˈteɪ̯k | grasp or carry something |
| 17 | telltɛl | communicate information to someone |
| 18 | goodˈɡʊd | of high quality or positive |
| 19 | letlɛt | allow or permit someone |
| 20 | makemeɪk | create or produce |
| 21 | timetəɪm | indefinite period of existence |
| 22 | manˈmɛə̯n | adult male human being |
| 23 | okayˌəʊˈkeɪ | acceptable or satisfactory |
| 24 | backbax | rear side of body or thing |
| 25 | needniːd | require or have need of |
| 26 | giveˈɡɪv | to provide or transfer to someone |
| 27 | thingθiŋ/ [θiŋ ~ θɪ̝ŋ | an object or matter |
| 28 | reallyˈɹɪə.li | in actual fact or truth |
| 29 | dodə | to perform or carry out an action |
| 30 | meanmiːn | to intend or signify |
| 31 | wayweɪ | a path or direction |
| 32 | somethingˈsʌm.θɪŋ | an unspecified thing |
| 33 | tootuː | also or excessively |
| 34 | findˈfəɪ̯n | discover or locate something |
| 35 | moremoː | to a greater degree |
| 36 | loveˈləʋ | to feel deep affection for |
| 37 | talktɔʊ̯k | to speak or converse |
| 38 | callkɔːl | to summon or telephone |
| 39 | downˈdæʊ̯n | toward lower position |
| 40 | workwɜː(ɹ)k | activity involving effort or labor |
| 41 | leaveˈliːv | to depart or go away |
| 42 | veryˈvɛɹi | to a great degree |
| 43 | neverˈnɛv.ə | not at any time |
| 44 | peopleˈpipol | human beings collectively |
| 45 | onlyˈoʊn.li | solely or exclusively |
| 46 | overˈoːvɚ | above or across |
| 47 | guyɡaɪ | a man or person |
| 48 | daydæɪ̯ | a period of 24 hours |
| 49 | littleˈlɪ.tl̩ | small in size or amount |
| 50 | pleasepliːz | to make someone happy or satisfied |
| 51 | sorryˈsoɹi | feeling regret or sadness |
| 52 | offɒf | away from a place or position |
| 53 | trytɹaɪ | attempt or endeavor |
| 54 | thankˈfaŋk | to express gratitude to someone |
| 55 | helphɛo̯p] ~ [hɛʊ̯p | to assist or provide aid to |
| 56 | waitweɪt | pause expecting something |
| 57 | evenˈiːvən | used to emphasize or surprise |
| 58 | happenˈhæpən | to occur by chance |
| 59 | muchmʌt͡ʃ | to a great degree or extent |
| 60 | sureʃɔː | confident or certain about something |
| 61 | winˈwɪn | to be victorious |
| 62 | yearjɜː | period of twelve months |
| 63 | otherˈʌðəɹ | different from this one |
| 64 | stopstɑp | cease moving or operating |
| 65 | keepkiːp | to retain or maintain |
| 66 | firstfeːst | coming before others in order |
| 67 | askæks | to pose a question |
| 68 | anythingˈɛn.i.θiŋ | any thing at all |
| 69 | killˈkɪʊ̯ | cause death of |
| 70 | stillˈstɪl | continuing without change or movement |
| 71 | hearˈhiːə | to perceive by ear |
| 72 | lifeˈlaɪ̯f | the state of being alive |
| 73 | nothingˈnʌtɪŋ | not anything |
| 74 | putpʊt | to place or position |
| 75 | use(j)ɪu̯s | employ for purpose |
| 76 | feelˈfiːl | to experience sensation |
| 77 | greatˈɡɹeːt | of high quality or importance |
| 78 | longlɔːŋ | extending great distance |
| 79 | againəˈɡɪ̟n | one more time |
| 80 | maybeˈmeɪ.bi | possibly or perhaps |
| 81 | nightˈnɐɪ̯t | the time after sunset |
| 82 | beforebɪˈfo(ː)ɹ | at an earlier time |
| 83 | homehəʊm | a residence or dwelling |
| 84 | liveˈlɪv | reside or dwell |
| 85 | girlɡəɹ(ə)l | a young female person |
| 86 | nameneɪm | a word identifying someone |
| 87 | friendfɹɛnd | person one likes |
| 88 | lastlɑːst | final or most recent |
| 89 | betterˈbɛt.ə | of higher quality or excellence |
| 90 | everythingˈɛv(ə)ɹiˌθɪŋ | all things or matters |
| 91 | newn(j)ʉw | recently created or acquired |
| 92 | startsta̠ɹ̠t̚ | begin or commence |
| 93 | alwaysˈɔl.weɪz | at all times |
| 94 | placeˈpleːs | a location or position |
| 95 | bigbɪɡ | of large size or extent |
| 96 | womanˈwʊmən | adult female person |
| 97 | moneyˈmʌn.i | currency or financial resources |
| 98 | oldəʊld | of advanced age |
| 99 | aroundəˈɹaʊnd | on all sides or nearby |
| 100 | staysteɪ | to remain in a place |
Sources and licences
The ranking is ours, built from the frequency data below and published under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Two things worth knowing before you read it. The list holds content words - nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs - so the function words that top any raw frequency count are not in it: no the, of, and, and no pronouns. And each entry gives one everyday meaning, written to be the one you are most likely to need, not the word's full range of senses.
To cite this resource: linguafolks. The most common English words. www.linguafolks.com/articles/most-common-words/en. Teachers and institutions are welcome to use, print or adapt the lists in coursework with attribution and a link.
- FrequencyWords, over OpenSubtitles 2018
Word frequency counted across film and television subtitles, via OPUS. Generator MIT (Hermit Dave); corpus OpenSubtitles 2018 via OPUS.
P. Lison, J. Tiedemann & M. Kouylekov (2018). OpenSubtitles2018: Statistical Rescoring of Sentence Alignments in Large Corpora. LREC 2018.
- Wiktionary
Pronunciation (IPA), where an entry has one - coverage is partial, and a word without one shows none. CC BY-SA and GFDL, dual-licensed.
Obtained in machine-readable form from kaikki.org. Tatu Ylonen (2022). Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data. LREC 2022, pp. 1317-1325.