Most Commonly Spoken Words in English

There are at least 100 words which are the most commonly spoken words in the English language. You can determine these words by listening to conversations, guessing from your experience or consulting a source like YourDictionary.

Top 100 Most Commonly Spoken Words in English

According to the Reading Teachers Book of Lists, the 100 most popular words in English are:

1. the
2. of
3. and
4. a
5. to
6. in
7. is
8. you
9. that
10. it
11. he
12. was
13. for
14. on
15. are
16. as
17. with
18. his
19. they
20. I
21. at
22. be
23. this
24. have
25. from
26. or
27. one
28. had
29. by
30. word
31. but
32. not
33. what
34. all
35. were
36. we
37. when
38. your
39. can
40. said
41. there
42. use
43. an
44. each
45. which
46. she
47. do
48. how
49. their
50. if
51. will
52. up
53. other
54. about
55. out
56. many
57. then
58. them
59. these
60. so
61. some
62. her
63. would
64. make
65. like
66. him
67. into
68. time
69. has
70. look
71. two
72. more
73. write
74. go
75. see
76. number
77. no
78. way
79. could
80. people
81. my
82. than
83. first
84. water
85. been
86. call
87. who
88. oil
89. its
90. now
91. find
92. long
93. down
94. day
95. did
96. get
97. come
98. made
99. may
100. part

British English, American English and Australian English

The list of most common words quickly enlarges to over 500 words when you add the most common words in British English and Australian English to the list of common words in American English. These 500 words were, in turn, ranked in popularity by world-english.org using surveys of contemporary newspapers, magazines, books, tv, radio and conversations.

Word Popularity of all Three Dialects

• Number 1 - The word “the” was ranked at the top of the list for all three dialects of English.

• Number 2 - The word "of" has the second spot in the ranking.
• Numbers 4, 5 and 7 - The words “and,” “a” and “is” are ranked at number four, five, and seven.
• Numbers 31, 40 and 49 - The popular words “but,” “all” and “each” ranked at numbers thirty-one, forty, and forty-nine respectively.

While there are many words that you may use frequently at the top of the list, there are also many words that you may not use as much throughout the list. For example the words “correct”, “develop”, “produce” and “fact” all made the list as well.

Knowing Your Favorite Words

One of the ways that you can see what the words that you use most frequently are is by keeping a journal for a week. By writing down or recording every word you say, you will begin to see the pattern that surrounds the context of your words. 

You can do this exercise off and on for two months and then take time out to review the words your have recorded. Notice how many times you use certain words. Then you can easily refer back to the list of the 100 most frequently used words for review. Notice how the words that you say correspond with the words on the list.