Frequency List logo Frequency List The 5,000 most common words in spoken English

The 5,000 most common words in English

Learn them in this order and every hour of study goes further: the first 100 words are 68% of everything Americans say, and the first 1,000 are 92%.

Ranked from a balanced corpus of TV shows, so the list reflects English as it is spoken, not written — with IPA pronunciation, every word form, and audio. Click any word to hear it.

All 5,062 words.
Or study the list in sets:Or study in sets: first 10 · first 20 · first 50 · first 100
Rank Word Part of speech Pronunciation & forms
1

be

verb
2

I

function word
3

you

function word
4

the

function word
5

a

function word
6

to

function word
7

it

function word
8

not

function word
9

that

function word
10

and

function word
11

of

function word
12

do

verb
13

have

verb
14

what

function word
15

we

function word
16

in

function word
17

get

verb
18

this

function word
19

my

function word
20

me

function word
21

go

verb
22

oh

interjection
23

can

verb
24

no

function word
25

on

function word
26

for

function word
27

know

verb
28

just

adverb
29

your

function word
30

's

function word
31

all

function word
32

so

adverb
33

with

function word
34

he

function word
35

but

function word
36

yeah

adverb
37

well

adverb
38

think

verb
39

here

adverb
40

want

verb
41

out

adverb
42

about

function word
43

good

adjective
44

come

verb
45

up

adverb
46

say

verb
47

now

adverb
48

at

function word
49

one

number
50

hey

interjection
51

they

function word
52

see

verb
53

if

function word
54

how

adverb
55

like

verb
56

she

function word
57

look

verb
58

make

verb
59

right

adjective
60

guy

noun
61

take

verb
62

let

verb
63

really

adverb
64

okay

adverb
65

her

function word
66

uh

interjection
67

tell

verb
68

him

function word
69

why

adverb
70

there

adverb
71

who

function word
72

time

noun
73

thing

noun
74

from

function word
75

will

verb
76

like

adverb
77

when

adverb
78

as

function word
79

because

function word
80

some

function word
81

our

function word
82

yes

adverb
83

there

function word
84

back

adverb
85

mean

verb
86

man

noun
87

little

adjective
88

give

verb
89

his

function word
90

us

function word
91

them

function word
92

need

verb
93

then

adverb
94

shall

verb
95

or

function word
96

talk

verb
97

okay

adjective
98

something

function word
99

where

adverb
100

great

adjective
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All 5,000 words, ranked by how often Americans actually say them. Excel, PDF (A4 and US Letter), EPUB, AZW3 (Kindle), and Numbers — print it, study it, share it with your students.

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Where this list comes from

I built this list from a balanced corpus of TV shows, so it reflects how American English is actually spoken — not how it's written. That's why it looks different from frequency lists built on books or newspapers: in conversation, yeah is the 36th most common word, sorry the 106th, and honey — the term of endearment, not the food — the 270th. No written corpus would rank them anywhere close. Pronunciations (IPA) come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary.

Common questions

What is the most used word in English?

In spoken American English, the verb be — counting all its forms: am, is, are, was, were — tops this list, followed by I and you. Lists built on written English usually put the first. That gap is one more way speech differs from writing: conversation is about people, so I and you shoot to the top.

What are the 100 most common English words?

They're the first 100 rows of the table above — be, I, you, the, a, to… — each with its pronunciation and audio. You can also open them as their own page: the 100 most common English words. They matter more than any other hundred words you could learn: within this list, the top 100 words account for 68% of all recorded uses.

How many words do you need for everyday English?

Fewer than you'd think. Within this list, the top 1,000 words cover 92% of all recorded uses — the first thousand words do most of the talking. Learn them in frequency order and every hour of study goes where it counts. Milestone pages: top 100, top 500, top 1,000, top 3,000.

Can I study the list in small sets, like pages of 10?

Yes. Add a range to the address: frequencylist.com/1-10 shows words 1–10, /11-20 the next ten, and so on — any range works, like /101-110 or /1-100. Each set has Previous and Next buttons and prints cleanly. If you teach, you can assign one set per lesson and share its link with your students.