Word Frequency List for English

This page lists the 2000 most frequent English words, according to the BNC data base. Numbers, abbreviations, contractions, and place names have been excluded. The list is lemmatized, meaning the base form (infinitive or singular) is counted by the frequency of all its derived forms. A text version is also available.

Note that sometimes, two principle entries cannot be separated because they share forms, e.g. 'to live' and 'the life' both have a derived form 'lives'. These words had to be combined into one single entry in the list.

The list also unifies undisputed synonyms into one entry (e.g. small=little, usually=normally, etc.). Words which share synonym readings but are different in some other meanings have been left separated.

Base Forms	Derived Forms
the
be	is, was, are, were, been, being, am
it, he, they, she	her, their, them, him, its
of
and
to
a
in
i, we	my, me, our, us
have	had, has, having
that	those
for
you	your, yours
on
with
this	these
do	did, does, done, doing
as
by
at
not, non
but
his
from
which
or
an
say	said, says, saying
there
one
all
would
will	willing
what
who	whose, whom
if
go	going, went, gone, goes
can
get	got, getting, gets
when
make	made, making, makes
so
no
more
about
see	seen, saw, seeing, sees
know	knew, known, knows, knowing
time	times
up
take	took, taken, taking, takes
some
other	others
could
think	thought, thinking, thoughts, thinks
year	years
into
then
good	better, best, goods
use	used, using, uses
two
out
only
come	came, coming, comes
like	liked
work	working, works, worked
new	news
now
over
give	given, gave, giving, gives
just
may
himself, itself, themselves, herself, myself, yourself, ourselves, self
also
look	looked, looking, looks
people
any
very
first
aft	after
well
should
way	ways
than
where
how
find	found, finding, findings, finds
back
most
right	rights
man	men
small	little, smaller
life, live	living, lives, lived
much
down
day	days
between
many
before
need	needs, needed
because
want	wanted, wants
mean	means, meant, meaning
even	evening
through
yeah
big	large, larger, largest, biggest, bigger
three
thing	things
tell	told, telling, tells
such
feel	felt, feeling, feelings, feels
under, below
leave	left, leaving, leaves
must
still
child	children
too
here
off
put	putting, puts
own
both
show	shown, showed, shows, showing
last
government	governments
become	became, becomes, becoming
house	houses, housing
late	later, latest
old	older
woman	women
system	systems
great	greater, greatest
part	parts
might
same
case	cases
yes
numb	number, numbers
however
group	groups
place	places, placed
follow	following, followed, follows
ask	asked, asking
area	areas
home	homes
seem	seems, seemed
another
world
company	companies
while
problem	problems
again
high	higher, highest
against
never
long	longer
change	changes, changed, changing
include	including, included, includes
meet	meeting, met, meetings
service	services
interest	interests, interesting, interested
hand	hands
perhaps, maybe, possibly
something
party	parties
school	schools
different, unlike
try	trying, tried
why
early	earlier
each
end	ended
provide	provided, provides, providing
call	called
turn	turned, turning
country	countries
really
start	started, starting, starts
since
week	weeks
point	points
member	members
keep	kept, keeping
begin	began, beginning, begun, begins
always
state	states
without
set	setting
second	seconds
around
within
local
during
bring	brought, bringing, brings
word	words
report	reported, reports
although
write	written, wrote, writing
hold	held, holding
often, frequently
next
family	families
fact	facts
form	forms, formed
social
quite
play	played, playing
open	opened
every
month	months
build	building, built, buildings
particularly, especially
face	facing, faces
until
side	sides
move	moved, moving
night	nights
important
eye	eyes
young	younger
information
help	helped
run	running, ran
away
question	questions
basis, base	based
bank, demand	banks, demands
book	books
power	powers
development	developments
money
level	levels
national
business	businesses
head	heads
public
lead	led, leading
room	rooms
further, farther
result	results
less
car	cars
policy	policies
council	councils
plan	planning, plans
though
court	courts
already
possible
nothing
hear	heard
yet
water
pay	paid, paying
effect	effects
whether
idea	ideas
enough
line	lines
study	studies
general
job	jobs
body	bodies
friend	friends
name	names
allow	allowed, allows, allowing
support	supported
market	markets
almost
mind	minds
authority	authorities
increase	increased, increasing
north, northern
believe	believed, believes
road	roads
read	reading
able
political
hour	hours
door	doors
rate	rates
happen	happened, happens, happening
office	offices
whole
act	acting
issue	issues, issued
law	laws
programme, program	programmes
reason	reasons
involve	involved, involving, involves
person	persons
term	terms
towards
half, halve
view	views
talk	talking, talks
age	ages, aged
anything
period	periods
major
society	societies
control
round
minister	ministers
therefore, hence
process	processes
war
appear	appeared, appears
either
mother	mothers
figure	figures
cost	costs
once
police
usually, normally
among, amongst
matt	matter, matters
far
probably
available
carry	carried, carrying
individual	individuals
low, lour	lower
action	actions
course	courses
minute	minutes
city	cities
offer	offered, offering, offers
price	prices
kind	kinds
labour, labor
south, southern
position	positions
community	communities
west, western
require	required, requires
suggest	suggested, suggests
full
actually
education
remain	remains, remained, remaining
type	types
ever
today
subject	subjects
sit	sat, sitting
moment	moments
girl	girls
force	forces, forced
voice
across
certainly, surely
bad, ill	worse, worst
love	loved
together
return	returned, returning
continue	continued, continues
research
value	values
fall	fell, fallen, falling
train	training
patient	patients
health
sure
stand	stood, standing
light	lights
street	streets
decision	decisions
industry	industries
order	orders
care
class, classis	classes
lose	lost, losing
main
understand	understanding, understood
several
centre, center	centres
past
god
condition	conditions
paper	papers
behind
economic
upon
let
above
detail	details, detailed
century	centuries
section	sections
arm	arms, armed
activity	activities
table	tables
top
church	churches
hard
real
team	teams
clear
future
likely
sort	sorts
expect	expected
black, blacken
concern	concerned, concerning
lot	lots
few	fewer
experience	experiences
student	students
buy	bought, buying
staff
white
language	languages
union	unions
add	added
remember	remembered
record	records, recorded
stop	stopped
difficult
produce	produced, producing
special
department	departments
particular
international
father
standard	standards
management
send	sent
product	products
certain
agree	agreed
committee	committees
letter	letters
ground, groundsheet	grounds
evidence
rathe	rather
speak	spoke, speaking, spoken
foot	feet
design	designed
boy	boys
third
walk	walked, walking
game	games
close	closed
morning
claim	claims, claimed
role	roles
else
east, eastern
sense
event	events
organisation, organization	organisations, organizations
practice	practices
sometimes
stage	stages
thus
present	presented
consider	considered
shall
club	clubs
death
parent	parents
town	towns
decide	decided
situation	situations
ago
art	arts
teacher	teachers
manager	managers
example	examples
yesterday
range
window	windows
along
spend	spent, spending
history
free
field	fields
difference	differences
human, humane
food
air
relationship	relationships
indeed
sir
sale	sales
someone
everything
similar
story	stories
trade
unite	united
cover	covered, covering
worker	workers
datum	data
structure	structures
share	shares
necessary
nature
easy	easier
method	methods
rule	rules
win	won
unit	units
central
tax	taxes
movement	movements
material	materials
account	accounts
simply
pound	pounds
reach	reached
receive	received
firm	firms
personal
project	projects
short
deal	dealing
land
total
true
break	broke, broken
wife, wive
wall	walls
cause	caused
lord	lords
former
common
grow	growing, grew, grown
develop	developed
theory	theories
model	models
hope	hoping
hospital	hospitals
computer	computers
property	properties
financial
single
bill	bills
director	directors
scheme	schemes
thank	thanks
application	applications
chance	chances
private
foreign
answer	answers
operation	operations
die	died
near
son	sons
opportunity	opportunities
president
officer	officers
leader	leaders
soon
strong
bed
draw	drawn, drew
recent
source	sources
quality
university
site	sites
television, tv
describe	described
various
picture	pictures
loss	losses
agreement	agreements
exist	existing, exists
clearly
contract	contracts
outside
animal	animals
purpose	purposes
poor
lie	lay, lying, lies
production
colour	colours
election	elections
music
bit, bitt	bits
shop	shops
anyone
factor	factors
pass	passed, passing
pattern	patterns
front
piece	pieces
award
date
royal
april
tree	trees
benefit	benefits
pressure	pressures
suppose	supposed
despite
knowledge
june
create	created, creating
hair
plant	plants
march
series
test	tests
charge	charges
sell	sold, selling
page	pages
natural
official	officials
watch	watching, watched
note	notes, noted
wide	wider
rise	rose
statement	statements
relation	relations
simple
principle	principles
rest
secretary
security
king
heart
learn	learning
attention
sign	signs, signed
doctor	doctors
chapter
capital
per
visit	visited
board
success
effort	efforts
machine	machines
everyone
film	films
complete	completed
establish	established
whatever
analysis, analyse
region	regions
wait	waiting, waited
population
player	players
difficulty	difficulties
step	steps
cell	cells
modern, moderne
drive	drove, driven
legal
feature	features
village	villages
approach
final
smile	smiled
wrong
finally
performance
environment
please
fire
mile	miles
degree	degrees
task	tasks
provision	provisions
wish	wished
growth
nice
lady	ladies
size
huge, vast
horse	horses
space
amount
user	users
character	characters
function	functions
fund	funds
normal
nor
gon
dog	dogs
green
quickly
behaviour
garden	gardens
previous
recently
serious
anyway
couple
worth
energy
current
station	stations
argument	arguments
dark
significant
income
apply	applied, applies
responsibility	responsibilities
achieve	achieved
element	elements
accept	accepted
duty	duties
july
treatment
prime
leg	legs
throughout
suddenly
raise	raised
choice
choose	chosen, chose
fine
inside
happy
list
aspect	aspects
defence
red, redd
industrial
stay	stayed
brother	brothers
floor
generally
nearly
surprise	surprising, surprised
sorry
association
forward
army
summer
specific
bear	born
husband
potential
custom	customers, customer
alone
cut, cute
procedure	procedures
image	images
obviously
unless
appropriate
discussion	discussions
dead
military
contain	contains, containing, contained
season
client	clients
cold
proposal	proposals
basic
sun
middle
profit	profits
successful
aware
technology
attitude	attitudes
exactly
beyond
style
goal	goals
october
popular
skill	skills
affair	affairs
science
seat	seats
technique	techniques
attempt	attempts
resource	resources
item	items
sea
advice
circumstance	circumstances
september
park
original
hall
announce	announced
advantage	advantages
investment
oil
mainly, primarily
cup
january
wear	wearing, wore
james
measure	measures
okay
blood
reduce	reduced
useful, utile
professional
conference
extent
key
response
majority
effective
press
easily
stone	stones
risk
economy
commission
traditional
glass
ready
male
fish
payment	payments
importance
college
article	articles
catch	caught
immediately
card	cards
considerable
parliament
explain	explained
enjoy	enjoyed
communication	communications
physical
specie	species
title
access
employment
daughter
responsible
competition
institution	institutions
november
december
sunday
medical
mouth
object	objects
heavy
obtain	obtained
tomorrow
requirement	requirements
document	documents
option	options
primary
listen	listening
eventually
occasion	occasions
ability
highly
hotel
kill	killed
concept	concepts
ensure
baby
arrangement	arrangements
fight	fighting
surface
finger	fingers
bird	birds
campaign
equipment
fully
disease
division
lack
strategy	strategies
independent
slightly
software
hot
peace
christmas
direct
hardly
otherwise
directly
owner	owners
shoulder	shoulders
employee	employees
discuss	discussed
radio
direction
trouble
sport	sports
beautiful
civil
status
sound
sentence	sentences
variety
safety
completely
tea
box
sector
join	joined
culture
argue	argued
newspaper	newspapers
weight
mark
reader	readers
secondary, stress
obvious
nation	nations
context
none
afternoon
publish	published
copy	copies
february
positive
partner	partners
miss
essential
extra
drug	drugs
alright
star	stars
saturday
rock	rocks
appeal
sex
branch	branches
introduce	introduced
chief
neither
kitchen
prove	proved
afterwards, subsequently, afterward
limit	limited
library
reply	replied
pupil	pupils
chairman
contribution	contributions
cash
version
artist	artists
league
agent	agents
county
environmental
presence
truth
blue
medium	media
exchange
relevant
august
balance
slowly
relatively
agency	agencies
deep
affect	affected
budget
protection
marriage
consequence	consequences
collection
brown
speech
nuclear
identify	identified
survey
latter
failure
annual
practical
forget	forgotten
career
chair
teach	teaching
apparently
text
average
separate
save	savings
merely
plus
memory
studio
regular
opposition
facility	facilities
commercial
bar
post
edge
politics
determine	determined
reference
quick, fast
aid
instead
expression
associate	associated
influence
quarter
opinion
additional
largely
candidate	candidates
somebody
writer	writers
pain
gas
active
scale
clothe	clothes
stock
impact
nevertheless
regional
complex
powerful
speaker
carefully
corner
vehicle	vehicles
length
race
employer	employers
telephone
river
seek	seeking
possibility
strength
insurance
currently
ball
impossible
female
somewhere
skin
confidence
wind
legislation
message
holiday
railway, railroad
trust
sexual
network
attack
ordinary
entirely
previously
tonight
actual
release	released
song	songs
fail	failed
extremely
fresh
scene
conservative
speed
solution
wage	wages
credit
occur	occurs
distance
stare	stared, staring
band
internal
excellent
arrive	arrived
fairly
technical
domestic
relative	relatives
avoid
crime
traffic
introduction
increasingly
forty
administration
replace	replaced
mum
sister
existence
executive
hill
kingdom
equally
phone
cultural
winter
alternative
loan	loans
serve	served
rich
category	categories
proper
comment	comments
famous
religious
spirit
trial
advance	advanced
relief
progress
straight
queen
formal
sight
coffee
prison
review
accident
paint	paintings, painting
earth
reality
content	contents
strange
sleep
unable
warm
assessment
ahead
proportion
adult	adults
dinner
distribution
weekend
lovely
ring	rang
usual
wine
rural
twice
equal
victim	victims
path
whereas
stuff
nobody
substantial
reasonable
onto
aircraft
remove	removed
background
prepare	prepared
soft
transport
battle
joint
contrast
immediate
safe
everybody
debate
suitable
ought
manner
prevent
throw	threw, thrown
represent	represents, represented
freedom
selection
pair
dang	danger
relate	relating, related
compare	compared
manage	managed
due
afraid
flat
sufficient
ear	ears
democratic
match
unemployment
module	modules
capacity
expensive
construction
whilst
video
supply
christian
totally
mental
scientific
football
weather
beside
absolutely
absence
damage
district
critical
dangerous
senior
exercise
educational
partly
familiar
seriously
elsewhere
fear
recognition
necessarily
properly
track
output
crisis
unlikely
fee	fees
correct
commitment
regard	regarded
rain
victory
widely
dear
silence
perfect
target
grant	granted
colleague	colleagues
friday
closely
expenditure
audience
reaction
neck
conversation
historical
tiny
improve
congress
shape
consideration
bright
appearance
conflict
estate
threat
boat
violence
upper
empty
volume
emphasis
assembly
urban, urbane
apparent
quiet
dry
monday
contact
except
membership
route
shake	shook
institute
pleasure
cabinet
murder
bus
careful
literature
heat
faith
island
dad
farm
aye
liberal
driver
entry
eat
attractive
investigation
breath
fair
birth
description
wood
tend
vital
spring
curriculum
belief
conclusion
coal
effectively
thin
etc
notice
gentleman
hell
lip	lips
exhibition
treaty
engine
lunch
tradition
package
flower	flowers
depend	depends
elderly
sky
anybody
external
capable
reform, re-form
generation
beneath
desire
busy
ancient
wonderful
broad
treat	treated
tour
plenty
narrow
entire
bag
aim
definition
acid
atmosphere
welfare
doubt
typical
meanwhile
examination
troop	troops
debt
milk
address
reduction
criticism
tooth	teeth
explanation
nod	nodded
visitor	visitors
challenge
creation
intention
master
fore	forest
journey
screen
leadership
flight
engineer	engineering
farmer	farmers
significance
rare
via
least
somewhat
museum
phase
terrible
metal
motion
unfortunately
severe
factory
wild
strongly
laugh	laughed
bloody
corporate
brain
tall
rapidly
protect
criminal
injury
permanent
respect
desk
brief
hole
fundamental
similarly
implication	implications
originally
funny
wonder	wondered
noise
somehow
double
odd
inner
crucial
independence
bridge
constant
combination
perfectly
maintain
settlement
justice
session