3000 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language (USA) Discussion of the 3000 Words List This is a list of the 3000 most commonly used words in American newspapers and popular magazines. We compiled this list by taking forty newspapers and magazines and simply sorting the words and then counting the frequency of the words. We broke them down in groups of 200. The frequency of use is true for the groups but not within the groups. For convenience I sorted the words within each group of 200. Also if you should count the words you would find that there are fewer than 3000 words. Actually there are 2126 words listed. This is true because I removed words that were simply plurals of words. For example "tree" is on the third and fourth hundred-word list so I removed "trees" as somewhat unnecessary. Also I removed some but not all simple regular past tense words where I thought it would serve little purpose. I also removed the regular words duplicated in the "ing" suffix. For example "spell" is there but I removed "spelling" and "spelled". This list is useful for the student who wishes a vocabulary list for simple conversation. It is an excellent base to begin with. It is interesting to note that the list is very contemporary. For example the names Paul and George are on the list. This is no doubt due to Pope Paul and President George Bush at the time the list was compiled. Note that when a word is capitalized it is a person's name, a proper noun or title. For example Miss is a title, while miss is a verb or a noun. The 1st and 2nd 100 Words: 1. about 2. after 3. again 4. air 5. all 6. along 7. also 8. an 9. and 10. another 11. any 12. are
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3000 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language (USA)
Discussion of the 3000 Words List
This is a list of the 3000 most commonly used words in American newspapers and popular magazines. We compiled this list by taking forty newspapers and magazines and simply sorting the words and then counting the frequency of the words. We broke them down in groups of 200. The frequency of use is true for the groups but not within the groups. For convenience I sorted the words within each group of 200. Also if you should count the words you would find that there are fewer than 3000 words. Actually there are 2126 words listed. This is true because I removed words that were simply plurals of words. For example "tree" is on the third and fourth hundred-word list so I removed "trees" as somewhat unnecessary. Also I removed some but not all simple regular past tense words where I thought it would serve little purpose. I also removed the regular words duplicated in the "ing" suffix. For example "spell" is there but I removed "spelling" and "spelled". This list is useful for the student who wishes a vocabulary list for simple conversation. It is an excellent base to begin with. It is interesting to note that the list is very contemporary. For example the names Paul and George are on the list. This is no doubt due to Pope Paul and President George Bush at the time the list was compiled. Note that when a word is capitalized it is a person's name, a proper noun or title. For example Miss is a title, while miss is a verb or a noun.
The 1st and 2nd 100 Words:
1. about
2. after
3. again
4. air
5. all
6. along
7. also
8. an
9. and
10. another
11. any
12. are
13. around
14. as
15. at
16. away
17. back
18. be
19. because
20. been
21. before
22. below
23. between
24. both
25. but
26. by
27. came
28. can
29. come
30. could
31. day
32. did
33. different
34. do
35. does
36. don't
37. down
38. each
39. end
40. even
41. every
42. few
43. find
44. first
45. for
46. found
47. from
48. get
49. give
50. go
51. good
52. great
53. had
54. has
55. have
56. he
57. help
58. her
59. here
60. him
61. his
62. home
63. house
64. how
65. I
66. if
67. in
68. into
69. is
70. it
71. its
72. just
73. know
74. large
75. last
76. left
77. like
78. line
79. little
80. long
81. look
82. made
83. make
84. man
85. many
86. may
87. me
88. men
89. might
90. more
91. most
92. Mr.
93. must
94. my
95. name
96. never
97. new
98. next
99. no
100. not
101. now
102. number
103. of
104. off
105. old
106. on
107. one
108. only
109. or
110. other
111. our
112. out
113. over
114. own
115. part
116. people
117. place
118. put
119. read
120. right
121. said
122. same
123. saw
124. say
125. see
126. she
127. should
128. show
129. small
130. so
131. some
132. something
133. sound
134. still
135. such
136. take
137. tell
138. than
139. that
140. the
141. them
142. then
143. there
144. these
145. they
146. thing
147. think
148. this
149. those
150. thought
151. three
152. through
153. time
154. to
155. together
156. too
157. two
158. under
159. up
160. us
161. use
162. very
163. want
164. water
165. way
166. we
167. well
168. went
169. were
170. what
171. when
172. where
173. which
174. while
175. who
176. why
177. will
178. with
179. word
180. work
181. world
182. would
183. write
184. year
185. you
186. your
187. was
The 3nd and 4rd 100 Words:
1. able 2. above 3. across 4. add 5. against 6. ago 7. almost 8. among 9. animal 10. answer 11. became 12. become 13. began 14. behind 15. being 16. better 17. black
18. best 19. body 20. book 21. boy 22. brought 23. call 24. cannot 25. car 26. certain 27. change 28. children 29. city 30. close 31. cold 32. country 33. course 34. cut
35. didn't 36. dog 37. done 38. door 39. draw 40. during 41. early 42. earth 43. eat 44. enough 45. ever 46. example 47. eye 48. face 49. family 50. far 51. father
52. feel 53. feet 54. fire 55. fish 56. five 57. food 58. form 59. four 60. front 61. gave 62. given 63. got 64. green 65. ground 66. group 67. grow 68. half
69. hand 70. hard 71. heard 72. high 73. himself 74. however 75. I'll 76. I'm 77. idea 78. important 79. inside 80. John 81. keep 82. kind 83. knew 84. known 85. land 86. later 87. learn 88. let 89. letter 90. life 91. light
92. live 93. living 94. making 95. mean 96. means 97. money 98. morning 99. mother 100. move 101. Mrs. 102. near 103. night 104. nothing 105. once 106. open 107. order 108. page 109. paper 110. parts 111. perhaps 112. picture 113. play 114. point
115. ready 116. red 117. remember 118. rest 119. room 120. run 121. school 122. sea 123. second 124. seen 125. sentence 126. several 127. short 128. shown 129. since 130. six 131. slide 132. sometime 133. soon 134. space 135. States 136. story 137. sun
138. sure 139. table 140. though 141. today 142. told 143. took 144. top 145. toward 146. tree 147. try 148. turn 149. United 150. until 151. upon 152. using 153. usually 154. white 155. whole 156. wind 157. without 158. yes 159. yet 160. young
The 5th and 6th 100 Words:
1. alone 2. already 3. although 4. am 5. America 6. anything 7. area 8. ball 9. beautiful 10. beginning 11. Bill 12. birds 13. blue 14. boat 15. bottom 16. box 17. bring 18. build 19. building 20. built
21. can't 22. care 23. carefully 24. carried 25. carry 26. center 27. check 28. class 29. coming 30. common 31. complete 32. dark 33. deep 34. distance 35. doing 36. dry 37. easy 38. either 39. else 40. everyone
41. everything 42. fact 43. fall 44. fast 45. felt 46. field 47. finally 48. fine 49. floor 50. follow 51. foot 52. friend 53. full 54. game 55. getting 56. girl 57. glass 58. goes 59. gold 60. gone
61. happened 62. having 63. heart 64. heavy 65. held 66. hold 67. horse 68. hot 69. hour 70. hundred 71. ice 72. Indian 73. instead 74. itself 75. job 76. kept 77. language 78. lay 79. least 80. leave
81. let's 82. list 83. longer 84. low 85. main 86. map 87. matter 88. mind 89. Miss 90. moon 91. mountain 92. moving 93. music 94. needed 95. notice 96. outside 97. past 98. pattern 99. person 100. piece 101. plant
102. poor 103. possible 104. power 105. probably 106. problem 107. question 108. quickly 109. quite 110. rain 111. ran 112. real 113. river 114. road 115. rock 116. round 117. sat 118. scientist 119. shall 120. ship 121. simple 122. size
123. sky 124. slowly 125. snow 126. someone 127. special 128. stand 129. start 130. state 131. stay 132. stood 133. stop 134. stopped 135. strong 136. suddenly 137. summer 138. surface 139. system 140. taken 141. talk 142. tall 143. ten
144. that's 145. themselves 146. third 147. tiny 148. town 149. tried 150. voice 151. walk 152. warm 153. watch 154. weather 155. whether 156. wide 157. wild 158. winter 159. within 160. writing 161. written
The 7th and 8th 100 Words:
1. age 2. ask 3. baby 4. base 5. beside 6. bright 7. business 8. buy 9. case 10. catch 11. caught 12. child 13. choose 14. circle 15. clear 16. color 17. copy 18. correct 19. couldn't 20. difference 21. direction 22. dried
23. easily 24. edge 25. egg 26. eight 27. energy 28. England 29. especially 30. Europe 31. exactly 32. except 33. explain 34. famous 35. farm 36. fell 37. figure 38. flat 39. fly 40. forest 41. free 42. French 43. fun 44. George
45. government 46. grass 47. grew 48. hair 49. happy 50. he's 51. heat 52. history 53. human 54. I've 55. inch 56. information 57. iron 58. Jim 59. Joe 60. King 61. larger 62. late 63. leg 64. length 65. listen
66. lost 67. lot 68. lower 69. machine 70. mark 71. maybe 72. measure 73. meet 74. middle 75. milk 76. minute 77. modern 78. moment 79. month 80. mouth 81. natural 82. nearly 83. necessary 84. New York 85. north 86. object 87. ocean
88. oil 89. pay 90. per 91. plan 92. plane 93. present 94. product 95. rather 96. reach 97. reason 98. record 99. running 100. seems 101. sent 102. seven
103. shape 104. sides 105. single 106. skin 107. sleep 108. smaller 109. soft 110. soil 111. south 112. speak 113. speed 114. spring 115. square 116. star 117. step
118. store 119. straight 120. strange 121. street 122. subject 123. suppose 124. teacher 125. thousand 126. thus 127. Tom 128. travel 129. trip 130. trouble 131. unit 132. village
133. wall 134. war 135. wasn't 136. week 137. whose 138. window 139. wish 140. women 141. won't 142. wood 143. wrote 144. yellow 145. you're 146. yourself
The 9th and 10th 100 Words:
1. action 2. addition 3. afraid 4. afternoon 5. ahead 6. amount 7. ancient 8. anyone 9. arm 10. bad 11. bear 12. beyond 13. bit 14. blood 15. board 16. Bob 17. born 18. break 19. British 20. broken 21. brother 22. brown 23. busy 24. capital 25. cat 26. cattle 27. cause 28. century
29. chance 30. clean 31. clothes 32. coast 33. control 34. cool 35. corn 36. corner 37. cover 38. cross 39. Dan 40. dead 41. deal 42. death 43. decide 44. difficult 45. doesn't 46. drive 47. engine 48. evening 49. farmer 50. faster 51. fight 52. fill 53. finger 54. force 55. forward 56. France
57. fresh 58. garden 59. general 60. glad 61. greater 62. greatest 63. guess 64. happen 65. Henry 66. higher 67. hit 68. hole 69. hope 70. huge 71. interest 72. island 73. isn't 74. jack 75. lady 76. largest 77. lead 78. led 79. level 80. love 81. Mary 82. material 83. meant 84. meat
85. method 86. missing 87. needs 88. nor 89. nose 90. note 91. opposite 92. pair 93. party 94. pass 95. period 96. please 97. position 98. pound 99. practice 100. pretty 101. produce 102. pull 103. quiet 104. race 105. radio 106. region 107. result 108. return 109. rich 110. ride 111. ring 112. rule
123. silver 124. similar 125. sit 126. son 127. song 128. spent 129. spread 130. stick 131. stone 132. tail
133. team 134. teeth 135. emperature 136. test 137. there's 138. therefore 139. thick 140. thin 141. train 142. various
143. wait 144. Washington 145. wave 146. we'll 147. weight 148. west 149. wife 150. wouldn't 151. wrong 152. you'll
The 11th and 12th 100 Words:
1. according 2. act 3. actually 4. Africa 5. alike 6. apart 7. ate 8. attention 9. bank 10. basic 11. beat 12. blow 13. bone 14. bread 15. careful 16. chair 17. chief 18. Christmas 19. church 20. cloth 21. cloud 22. column 23. compare 24. contain 25. continued 26. cost 27. cotton 28. count 29. dance 30. describe 31. desert 32. dinner 33. doctor
34. dollar 35. drop 36. dropped 37. ear 38. east 39. electric 40. element 41. enjoy 42. equal 43. exercise 44. experiment 45. familiar 46. farther 47. fear 48. forth 49. gas 50. giving 51. gray 52. grown 53. hardly 54. hat 55. hill 56. hurt 57. I'd 58. imagine 59. include 60. indeed 61. Johnny 62. joined 63. key 64. kitchen 65. knowledge 66. law
67. lie 68. major 69. met 70. metal 71. movement 72. nation 73. nature 74. nine 75. none 76. office 77. older 78. onto 79. original 80. paragraph 81. parent 82. particular 83. path 84. Paul 85. Peter 86. pick 87. president 88. pressure 89. process 90. public 91. quick 92. report 93. rope 94. rose 95. row 96. safe 97. salt 98. Sam 99. scale
100. sell 101. separate 102. sheep 103. shoe 104. shore 105. simply 106. sing 107. sister 108. sitting 109. sold 110. soldier 111. solve 112. speech 113. spend 114. steel 115. string 116. student 117. studied 118. sugar 119. television 120. term 121. throughout 122. tired 123. total 124. touch 125. trade 126. truck 127. twice 128. type 129. uncle 130. unless 131. useful 132. value
133. verb 134. visit 135. wear
136. what's 137. wheel 138. William
139. wing 140. wire 141. won
142. wonder 143. worker 144. yard
The 13th and 14th 100 Words:
1. 1/2 2. alive 3. angry 4. army 5. average 6. bag 7. band 8. Billy 9. branch 10. breakfast 11. breath 12. broke 13. bus 14. cabin 15. California 16. camp 17. captain 18. cell 19. cent 20. certainly 21. changing 22. closer 23. coal 24. coat 25. community 26. company 27. completely 28. compound 29. condition 30. consider 31. correctly 32. crop 33. crowd 34. current 35. danger 36. dear