100 Most Commonly Spoken Words in English

By
, Staff Writer
Updated July 20, 2021
example most Commonly Spoken Words in English
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Think of all the words we speak and texts we send in a day. Do you ever wonder what your most commonly used words are? In a world of blogs, articles, Netflix marathons, text messages, and DMs, you may or may not be surprised by the 100 most commonly spoken words in English.

Top 100 Words in English

Word Frequency publishes and updates the Corpus of Contemporary American English's list of the top 5,000 words in American English. Looking at 5,000 words might be a little much to take in. However, the top 100 is more doable. To get you started, dive into the top 10 most commonly used American English words.

  1. the

  2. be

  3. and

  4. a

  5. of

  6. to

  7. in

  8. I

  9. you

  10. it

Top Verbs Used in English

The top 10 common words probably didn’t come as any surprise. You use these all the time when speaking or writing. One of them was probably in a text you wrote today. Next on the list of the top 100 words are the verbs most frequently used. These are the words that show your action or thoughts in a sentence.

  1. can

  2. come

  3. could

  4. do

  5. find

  6. get

  7. give

  8. go

  9. have

  10. know

  11. like

  12. look

  13. make

  14. say

  15. see

  16. take

  17. tell

  18. think

  19. use

  20. want

  21. will

  22. would

Most Common Nouns Used in English

While English speakers use a lot of different verbs throughout their day, they are a bit pickier about the nouns they choose. However, there are so many different proper nouns that you use; you only need a few to describe a person, place or thing.

  1. day

  2. man

  3. need

  4. people

  5. thing

  6. time

  7. way

  8. year

Top Pronouns Used in English

More often than not, you might use a pronoun rather than a noun. Pronouns are those words that you use to replace nouns. And there are different types of pronouns out there. See a few of the most common ones.

  1. he

  2. him

  3. me

  4. she

  5. that

  6. them

  7. these

  8. they

  9. this

  10. us

  11. we

  12. what

  13. who

Common English Adjectives

English speakers like to modify their nouns or describe them. You can create huge lists of adjectives. However, these common ones called out by Word Frequency can get you started.

  1. all

  2. any

  3. first

  4. good

  5. her

  6. his

  7. just

  8. more

  9. my

  10. new

  11. one

  12. other

  13. our

  14. some

  15. their

  16. two

  17. your

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Top Adverbs Used in Conversations

Not to be overshadowed by their adjective siblings, several common adverbs made the list as well. Some of these should definitely look familiar to you.

  1. about

  2. also

  3. as

  4. here

  5. how

  6. no

  7. not

  8. now

  9. out

  10. so

  11. then

  12. there

  13. up

  14. very

  15. well

  16. when

  17. which

Common Prepositions Used in Daily Life

If you use a lot of nouns, pronouns and even verbs, you have to have a way to link them. This is where your prepositions come in. Many words in this list of prepositions you probably use on a daily basis.

  1. at

  2. by

  3. for

  4. from

  5. into

  6. on

  7. to

  8. with

Most Common Conjunctions

Rounding out the 100 most common English words, it’s time to look at the most common conjunctions. The list of these isn’t long, but they are powerful words.

  1. because

  2. but

  3. if

  4. or

  5. than

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British, American and Australian English

World English went ahead and ranked the top 500 words in British English, American English and Australian English by referencing contemporary newspapers, magazines, books, tv, radio, and conversations. Check out the words that landed in their top ten.

  1. the

  2. of

  3. to

  4. and

  5. a

  6. in

  7. is

  8. it

  9. you

  10. that

You'll notice "the" landed in the number one spot on both lists. However, there are some differences in the international list. For example, the words "sound," "hot" and "said" landed on the 100 most common English words on the international list but not the American list.

What Are Your Favorite Words?

It might not seem like it’s important to know the top 100 English words used in daily life, but it’s actually quite important. When you are learning English, knowing these words can help you navigate the language more quickly and effectively. Therefore, you’ll see a lot of these words on Dolch spelling lists for kids.

What's your most commonly spoken word? If you had to guess, how many times do you think you use the word "the" in a day? It would be a lot. So as you continue to craft careful prose and meaningful excerpts, remember to use common, relatable words while avoiding overused cliches.