Difference between revisions of "English word frequencies (general)"

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# cultural
 
# cultural
 
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</div>
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 +
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===Top 100 function words===
 +
Function words include minor lexical categories like prepositions, conjunctions, minor adverbs, copular and auxiliary verbs, determiners, and other minor words. The following list is drawn from data from the British National Corpus, and includes some morphemes as well.
 +
 +
{| class="wikitable sortable"
 +
! Rank !! Word !! Word class
 +
|-
 +
| 1 || the || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 2 || of* || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 3 || and || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 4 || a || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 5 || in || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 6 || to || Inf
 +
|-
 +
| 7 || to || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 8 || was || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 9 || it || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 10 || for || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 11 || with || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 12 || he || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 13 || be || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 14 || on || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 15 || I || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 16 || by || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 17 || 's || Gen
 +
|-
 +
| 18 || at || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 19 || you || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 20 || had || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 21 || his || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 22 || this || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 23 || have* || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 24 || but || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 25 || from || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 26 || which || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 27 || she || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 28 || they || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 29 || or || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 30 || an || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 31 || were || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 32 || as || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 33 || we || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 34 || their || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 35 || been || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 36 || has || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 37 || that || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 38 || will || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 39 || would || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 40 || her* || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 41 || there || Ex
 +
|-
 +
| 42 || n't || Neg
 +
|-
 +
| 43 || all || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 44 || can || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 45 || if || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 46 || who || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 47 || what || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 48 || as || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 49 || 's || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 50 || one || Num
 +
|-
 +
| 51 || its || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 52 || into || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 53 || him || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 54 || some || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 55 || up || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 56 || could || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 57 || when || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 58 || them || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 59 || so || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 60 || out || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 61 || my || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 62 || two || Num
 +
|-
 +
| 63 || about || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 64 || then || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 65 || no || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 66 || more || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 67 || also || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 68 || only || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 69 || me || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 70 || first || Ord
 +
|-
 +
| 71 || your || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 72 || may || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 73 || now || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 74 || new || Adj
 +
|-
 +
| 75 || any || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 76 || her || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 77 || than || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 78 || like || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 79 || just || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 80 || after || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 81 || between || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 82 || many || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 83 || how || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 84 || our || Det
 +
|-
 +
| 85 || being || Verb
 +
|-
 +
| 86 || those || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 87 || such || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 88 || down || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 89 || one || Pron
 +
|-
 +
| 90 || through || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 91 || over || Prep
 +
|-
 +
| 92 || even || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 93 || must || VMod
 +
|-
 +
| 94 || own || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 95 || because* || Conj
 +
|-
 +
| 96 || three || Num
 +
|-
 +
| 97 || last || Ord
 +
|-
 +
| 98 || more || DetP
 +
|-
 +
| 99 || however || Adv
 +
|-
 +
| 100 || on || Adv
 +
|}
 +
  
  
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<categorytree mode=pages>Lexical frequency lists</categorytree>
 
<categorytree mode=pages>Lexical frequency lists</categorytree>
  
−
 
+
===External sites and reference===
−
 
+
* [https://www.sketchengine.eu/oxford-english-corpus/ Oxford English Corpus]
−
 
+
* [http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/ British National Corpus]
 +
* [http://www.kilgarriff.co.uk/bnc-readme.html BNC database and word frequency lists]
 +
* [https://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/bncfreq/flists.html BNC frequency lists]
 +
* [https://www.lextutor.ca/ Lextutor]
  
  
 
[[Category:Vocabulary]] [[Category:Lexical frequency lists]]
 
[[Category:Vocabulary]] [[Category:Lexical frequency lists]]

Latest revision as of 09:06, 18 August 2022

Below are various basic word frequency lists for English, which can be helpful for beginning and intermediate learners of English, or for teachers.

1 Top 100s

These lists are based on the Oxford English Corpus.

1.1 Top 100 words altogether

  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
  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
  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
  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
  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


1.2 100 Most common verbs

  1. be
  2. have
  3. do
  4. say
  5. go
  6. can
  7. get
  8. would
  9. make
  10. know
  11. will
  12. think
  13. take
  14. see
  15. come
  16. could
  17. want
  18. look
  19. use
  20. find
  21. give
  22. tell
  23. work
  24. may
  25. should
  26. call
  27. try
  28. ask
  29. need
  30. feel
  31. become
  32. leave
  33. put
  34. mean
  35. keep
  36. let
  37. begin
  38. seem
  39. help
  40. talk
  41. turn
  42. start
  43. might
  44. show
  45. hear
  46. play
  47. run
  48. move
  49. like
  50. live
  51. believe
  52. hold
  53. bring
  54. happen
  55. must
  56. write
  57. provide
  58. sit
  59. stand
  60. lose
  61. pay
  62. meet
  63. include
  64. continue
  65. set
  66. learn
  67. change
  68. lead
  69. understand
  70. watch
  71. follow
  72. stop
  73. create
  74. speak
  75. read
  76. allow
  77. add
  78. spend
  79. grow
  80. open
  81. walk
  82. win
  83. offer
  84. remember
  85. love
  86. consider
  87. appear
  88. buy
  89. wait
  90. serve
  91. die
  92. send
  93. expect
  94. build
  95. stay
  96. fall
  97. cut
  98. reach
  99. kill
  100. remain


1.3 100 Most common nouns

  1. time
  2. year
  3. people
  4. way
  5. day
  6. man
  7. thing
  8. woman
  9. life
  10. child
  11. world
  12. school
  13. state
  14. family
  15. student
  16. group
  17. country
  18. problem
  19. hand
  20. part
  21. place
  22. case
  23. week
  24. company
  25. system
  26. program
  27. question
  28. work
  29. government
  30. number
  31. night
  32. point
  33. home
  34. water
  35. room
  36. mother
  37. area
  38. money
  39. story
  40. fact
  41. month
  42. lot
  43. right
  44. study
  45. book
  46. eye
  47. job
  48. word
  49. business
  50. issue
  51. side
  52. kind
  53. head
  54. house
  55. service
  56. friend
  57. father
  58. power
  59. hour
  60. game
  61. line
  62. end
  63. member
  64. law
  65. car
  66. city
  67. community
  68. name
  69. president
  70. team
  71. minute
  72. idea
  73. kid
  74. body
  75. information
  76. back
  77. parent
  78. face
  79. others
  80. level
  81. office
  82. door
  83. health
  84. person
  85. art
  86. war
  87. history
  88. party
  89. result
  90. change
  91. morning
  92. reason
  93. research
  94. girl
  95. guy
  96. moment
  97. air
  98. teacher
  99. force
  100. education


1.4 100 Most common adjectives

  1. other
  2. new
  3. good
  4. high
  5. old
  6. great
  7. big
  8. American
  9. small
  10. large
  11. national
  12. young
  13. different
  14. black
  15. long
  16. little
  17. important
  18. political
  19. bad
  20. white
  21. real
  22. best
  23. right
  24. social
  25. only
  26. public
  27. sure
  28. low
  29. early
  30. able
  31. human
  32. local
  33. late
  34. hard
  35. major
  36. better
  37. economic
  38. strong
  39. possible
  40. whole
  41. free
  42. military
  43. true
  44. federal
  45. international
  46. full
  47. special
  48. easy
  49. clear
  50. recent
  51. certain
  52. personal
  53. open
  54. red
  55. difficult
  56. available
  57. likely
  58. short
  59. single
  60. medical
  61. current
  62. wrong
  63. private
  64. past
  65. foreign
  66. fine
  67. common
  68. poor
  69. natural
  70. significant
  71. similar
  72. hot
  73. dead
  74. central
  75. happy
  76. serious
  77. ready
  78. simple
  79. left
  80. physical
  81. general
  82. environmental
  83. financial
  84. blue
  85. democratic
  86. dark
  87. various
  88. entire
  89. close
  90. legal
  91. religious
  92. cold
  93. final
  94. main
  95. green
  96. nice
  97. huge
  98. popular
  99. traditional
  100. cultural


1.5 Top 100 function words

Function words include minor lexical categories like prepositions, conjunctions, minor adverbs, copular and auxiliary verbs, determiners, and other minor words. The following list is drawn from data from the British National Corpus, and includes some morphemes as well.

Rank Word Word class
1 the Det
2 of* Prep
3 and Conj
4 a Det
5 in Prep
6 to Inf
7 to Prep
8 was Verb
9 it Pron
10 for Prep
11 with Prep
12 he Pron
13 be Verb
14 on Prep
15 I Pron
16 by Prep
17 's Gen
18 at Prep
19 you Pron
20 had Verb
21 his Det
22 this DetP
23 have* Verb
24 but Conj
25 from Prep
26 which DetP
27 she Pron
28 they Pron
29 or Conj
30 an Det
31 were Verb
32 as Conj
33 we Pron
34 their Det
35 been Verb
36 has Verb
37 that DetP
38 will VMod
39 would VMod
40 her* Det
41 there Ex
42 n't Neg
43 all DetP
44 can VMod
45 if Conj
46 who Pron
47 what DetP
48 as Prep
49 's Verb
50 one Num
51 its Det
52 into Prep
53 him Pron
54 some DetP
55 up Adv
56 could VMod
57 when Conj
58 them Pron
59 so Adv
60 out Adv
61 my Det
62 two Num
63 about Prep
64 then Adv
65 no Det
66 more Adv
67 also Adv
68 only Adv
69 me Pron
70 first Ord
71 your Det
72 may VMod
73 now Adv
74 new Adj
75 any DetP
76 her Pron
77 than Conj
78 like Prep
79 just Adv
80 after Prep
81 between Prep
82 many DetP
83 how Adv
84 our Det
85 being Verb
86 those DetP
87 such DetP
88 down Adv
89 one Pron
90 through Prep
91 over Prep
92 even Adv
93 must VMod
94 own DetP
95 because* Conj
96 three Num
97 last Ord
98 more DetP
99 however Adv
100 on Adv


2 Academic word list

These are the most frequent, general academic words that all university students should know. This table contains the top 570 academic words in use across various fields. This is actually a list for word groups, not just the words themselves. For example, the term abstract would include derived words that one should also know, such as abstraction, abstractly; for access, one should know, e.g., accessibility, accessible, accessing, inaccessible, etc. This list is from http://www.lextutor.ca (where other word list files are also available, including a list of the 3000 top academic words in the 570 word groups).

  1. abandon
  2. abstract
  3. academy
  4. access
  5. accommodate
  6. accompany
  7. accumulate
  8. accurate
  9. achieve
  10. acknowledge
  11. acquire
  12. adapt
  13. adequate
  14. adjacent
  15. adjust
  16. administrate
  17. adult
  18. advocate
  19. affect
  20. aggregate
  21. aid
  22. albeit
  23. allocate
  24. alter
  25. alternative
  26. ambiguous
  27. amend
  28. analogy
  29. analyze
  30. annual
  31. anticipate
  32. apparent
  33. append
  34. appreciate
  35. approach
  36. appropriate
  37. approximate
  38. arbitrary
  39. area
  40. aspect
  41. assemble
  42. assess
  43. assign
  44. assist
  45. assume
  46. assure
  47. attach
  48. attain
  49. attitude
  50. attribute
  51. author
  52. authority
  53. automate
  54. available
  55. aware
  56. behalf
  57. benefit
  58. bias
  59. bond
  60. brief
  61. bulk
  62. capable
  63. capacity
  64. category
  65. cease
  66. challenge
  67. channel
  68. chapter
  69. chart
  70. chemical
  71. circumstance
  72. cite
  73. civil
  74. clarify
  75. classic
  76. clause
  77. code
  78. coherent
  79. coincide
  80. collapse
  81. colleague
  82. commence
  83. comment
  84. commission
  85. commit
  86. commodity
  87. communicate
  88. community
  89. compatible
  90. compensate
  91. compile
  92. complement
  93. complex
  94. component
  95. compound
  96. comprehensive
  97. comprise
  98. compute
  99. conceive
  100. concentrate
  101. concept
  102. conclude
  103. concurrent
  104. conduct
  105. confer
  106. confine
  107. confirm
  108. conflict
  109. conform
  110. consent
  111. consequent
  112. considerable
  113. consist
  114. constant
  115. constitute
  116. constrain
  117. construct
  118. consult
  119. consume
  120. contact
  121. contemporary
  122. context
  123. contract
  124. contradict
  125. contrary
  126. contrast
  127. contribute
  128. controversy
  129. convene
  130. converse
  131. convert
  132. convince
  133. cooperate
  134. coordinate
  135. core
  136. corporate
  137. correspond
  138. couple
  139. create
  140. credit
  141. criteria
  142. crucial
  143. culture
  144. currency
  145. cycle
  146. data
  147. debate
  148. decade
  149. decline
  150. deduce
  151. define
  152. definite
  153. demonstrate
  154. denote
  155. deny
  156. depress
  157. derive
  158. design
  159. despite
  160. detect
  161. deviate
  162. device
  163. devote
  164. differentiate
  165. dimension
  166. diminish
  167. discrete
  168. discriminate
  169. displace
  170. display
  171. dispose
  172. distinct
  173. distort
  174. distribute
  175. diverse
  176. document
  177. domain
  178. domestic
  179. dominate
  180. draft
  181. drama
  182. duration
  183. dynamic
  184. economy
  185. edit
  186. element
  187. eliminate
  188. emerge
  189. emphasis
  190. empirical
  191. enable
  192. encounter
  193. energy
  194. enforce
  195. enhance
  196. enormous
  197. ensure
  198. entity
  199. environment
  200. equate
  201. equip
  202. equivalent
  203. erode
  204. error
  205. establish
  206. estate
  207. estimate
  208. ethic
  209. ethnic
  210. evaluate
  211. eventual
  212. evident
  213. evolve
  214. exceed
  215. exclude
  216. exhibit
  217. expand
  218. expert
  219. explicit
  220. exploit
  221. export
  222. expose
  223. external
  224. extract
  225. facilitate
  226. factor
  227. feature
  228. federal
  229. fee
  230. file
  231. final
  232. finance
  233. finite
  234. flexible
  235. fluctuate
  236. focus
  237. format
  238. formula
  239. forthcoming
  240. foundation
  241. founded
  242. framework
  243. function
  244. fund
  245. fundamental
  246. furthermore
  247. gender
  248. generate
  249. generation
  250. globe
  251. goal
  252. grade
  253. grant
  254. guarantee
  255. guideline
  256. hence
  257. hierarchy
  258. highlight
  259. hypothesis
  260. identical
  261. identify
  262. ideology
  263. ignorant
  264. illustrate
  265. image
  266. immigrate
  267. impact
  268. implement
  269. implicate
  270. implicit
  271. imply
  272. impose
  273. incentive
  274. incidence
  275. incline
  276. income
  277. incorporate
  278. index
  279. indicate
  280. individual
  281. induce
  282. inevitable
  283. infer
  284. infrastructure
  285. inherent
  286. inhibit
  287. initial
  288. initiate
  289. injure
  290. innovate
  291. input
  292. insert
  293. insight
  294. inspect
  295. instance
  296. institute
  297. instruct
  298. integral
  299. integrate
  300. integrity
  301. intelligence
  302. intense
  303. interact
  304. intermediate
  305. internal
  306. interpret
  307. interval
  308. intervene
  309. intrinsic
  310. invest
  311. investigate
  312. invoke
  313. involve
  314. isolate
  315. issue
  316. item
  317. job
  318. journal
  319. justify
  320. label
  321. labor
  322. layer
  323. lecture
  324. legal
  325. legislate
  326. levy
  327. liberal
  328. licence
  329. likewise
  330. link
  331. locate
  332. logic
  333. maintain
  334. major
  335. manipulate
  336. manual
  337. margin
  338. mature
  339. maximize
  340. mechanism
  341. media
  342. mediate
  343. medical
  344. medium
  345. mental
  346. method
  347. migrate
  348. military
  349. minimal
  350. minimize
  351. minimum
  352. ministry
  353. minor
  354. mode
  355. modify
  356. monitor
  357. motive
  358. mutual
  359. negate
  360. network
  361. neutral
  362. nevertheless
  363. nonetheless
  364. norm
  365. normal
  366. notion
  367. notwithstanding
  368. nuclear
  369. objective
  370. obtain
  371. obvious
  372. occupy
  373. occur
  374. odd
  375. offset
  376. ongoing
  377. option
  378. orient
  379. outcome
  380. output
  381. overall
  382. overlap
  383. overseas
  384. panel
  385. paradigm
  386. paragraph
  387. parallel
  388. parameter
  389. participate
  390. partner
  391. passive
  392. perceive
  393. percent
  394. period
  395. persist
  396. perspective
  397. phase
  398. phenomenon
  399. philosophy
  400. physical
  401. plus
  402. policy
  403. portion
  404. pose
  405. positive
  406. potential
  407. practitioner
  408. precede
  409. precise
  410. predict
  411. predominant
  412. preliminary
  413. presume
  414. previous
  415. primary
  416. prime
  417. principal
  418. principle
  419. prior
  420. priority
  421. proceed
  422. process
  423. professional
  424. prohibit
  425. project
  426. promote
  427. proportion
  428. prospect
  429. protocol
  430. psychology
  431. publication
  432. publish
  433. purchase
  434. pursue
  435. qualitative
  436. quote
  437. radical
  438. random
  439. range
  440. ratio
  441. rational
  442. react
  443. recover
  444. refine
  445. regime
  446. region
  447. register
  448. regulate
  449. reinforce
  450. reject
  451. relax
  452. release
  453. relevant
  454. reluctance
  455. rely
  456. remove
  457. require
  458. research
  459. reside
  460. resolve
  461. resource
  462. respond
  463. restore
  464. restrain
  465. restrict
  466. retain
  467. reveal
  468. revenue
  469. reverse
  470. revise
  471. revolution
  472. rigid
  473. role
  474. route
  475. scenario
  476. schedule
  477. scheme
  478. scope
  479. section
  480. sector
  481. secure
  482. seek
  483. select
  484. sequence
  485. series
  486. sex
  487. shift
  488. significant
  489. similar
  490. simulate
  491. site
  492. so-called
  493. sole
  494. somewhat
  495. source
  496. specific
  497. specify
  498. sphere
  499. stable
  500. statistic
  501. status
  502. straightforward
  503. strategy
  504. stress
  505. structure
  506. style
  507. submit
  508. subordinate
  509. subsequent
  510. subsidy
  511. substitute
  512. successor
  513. sufficient
  514. sum
  515. summary
  516. supplement
  517. survey
  518. survive
  519. suspend
  520. sustain
  521. symbol
  522. tape
  523. target
  524. task
  525. team
  526. technical
  527. technique
  528. technology
  529. temporary
  530. tense
  531. terminate
  532. text
  533. theme
  534. theory
  535. thereby
  536. thesis
  537. topic
  538. trace
  539. tradition
  540. transfer
  541. transform
  542. transit
  543. transmit
  544. transport
  545. trend
  546. trigger
  547. ultimate
  548. undergo
  549. underlie
  550. undertake
  551. uniform
  552. unify
  553. unique
  554. utilize
  555. valid
  556. vary
  557. vehicle
  558. version
  559. via
  560. violate
  561. virtual
  562. visible
  563. vision
  564. visual
  565. volume
  566. voluntary
  567. welfare
  568. whereas
  569. whereby
  570. widespread



3 See also

▼ Lexical frequency lists
  English word frequencies (general)
  English word frequencies: Written vs. spoken
  Korean word frequencies

3.1 External sites and reference

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