Ready Reference Files

Most Commonly Spoken English Words

The following table is based on a random survey conducted by the C.M. Mathews of 4,000 spoken words and was printed in his book, Word, Words, Words. Scribner, NY, NY, 1980.

Rank	Word	Occurence	Rank	Word	Occurence
1	(to) be	238	25	up	23
2	the	205	25	(to)get	23
3	a/an	136	26	one	22
4	to	135	27	with	21
5	I/me/my	128	27	very	21
6	(to) have	120	28	(to)go	20
7	of	113	28	all	20
8	it	78	28	there	20
9	we/us/our	75	29	time	18
10	and	66	29	at	18
11	you/your	61	30	as	17
12	in	53	31	what	16
13	that	46	31	now	16
14	not	41	31	year	16
15	this/these	40	32	thing	15
16	they/them/their	39	32	will	15
17	(to) do	38	32	(to)make	15
18	on	34	32	more/most	15
19	he/him/his	33	33	if	14
20	(to) think	30	33	about	14
21	but	28	33	(to)know	14
22	can	27	33	here	14
23	well	26	34	who/whose	13
24	for	24	34	good/better/best	13
25	she/her	23	35	when	12

Verified by:CM, 5-99

Disclaimer:
While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented.