Most common words in English
The list below of most common words in English cannot be definitive. It is based on an analysis of the Oxford English Corpus of over a billion words, and represents one study done by Oxford Online, associated with the Oxford English Dictionary.[1] This source includes writings of all sorts from "literary novels and specialist journals to everyday newspapers and magazines and from Hansard to the language of chatrooms, emails, and weblogs",[2] unlike some sources which use texts from only specific sources.[3]
The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists claims that the first 25 words make up about one-third of all printed material in English, and that the first 100 make up about one-half of all written material.[4]
Note that "word" may mean either a word form (essentially, a distinct spelling), or a lexeme (essentially, a "base" word or dictionary-entry). For instance the lexeme "be", listed below, includes occurrences of "are", "is", "were", "was", etc.[5] Note also that these top 100 lemmas listed below account for 50% of all the words in the Oxford English Corpus.[1]
Rank |
Word |
1 | the |
2 | be |
3 | to |
4 | of |
5 | and |
6 | a |
7 | in |
8 | that |
9 | have |
10 | I |
11 | it |
12 | for |
13 | not |
14 | on |
15 | with |
16 | he |
17 | as |
18 | you |
19 | do |
20 | at |
|
Rank |
Word |
21 | this |
22 | but |
23 | his |
24 | by |
25 | from |
26 | they |
27 | we |
28 | say |
29 | her |
30 | she |
31 | or |
32 | an |
33 | will |
34 | my |
35 | one |
36 | all |
37 | would |
38 | there |
39 | their |
40 | what |
|
Rank |
Word |
41 | so |
42 | up |
43 | out |
44 | if |
45 | about |
46 | who |
47 | get |
48 | which |
49 | go |
50 | me |
51 | when |
52 | make |
53 | can |
54 | like |
55 | time |
56 | no |
57 | just |
58 | him |
59 | know |
60 | take |
|
Rank |
Word |
61 | people |
62 | into |
63 | year |
64 | your |
65 | good |
66 | some |
67 | could |
68 | them |
69 | see |
70 | other |
71 | than |
72 | then |
73 | now |
74 | look |
75 | only |
76 | come |
77 | its |
78 | over |
79 | think |
80 | also |
|
Rank |
Word |
81 | back |
82 | after |
83 | use |
84 | two |
85 | how |
86 | our |
87 | work |
88 | first |
89 | well |
90 | way |
91 | even |
92 | new |
93 | want |
94 | because |
95 | any |
96 | these |
97 | give |
98 | day |
99 | most |
100 | us |
|
Source:[1]
Parts of speech
Source:[1]
See also
References