Word frequency

The 500 most common English words in books

We counted every word in 40 English books from the Readly library, 5,631,425 running words in total. The 100 most frequent word forms make up 52.0% of that text, and the 500 on this page make up 67.4%. Knowing them will not let you read a novel, but you will meet them on every page.

By the Readlang Mobile team · Updated 30 September 2026

Key points

The 10 most frequent forms (the, of, and, to, a…) already make up 24.7% of the running words; the top 50 make up 44.1%.
After that the curve flattens: going from 100 to 500 words adds only about 15 percentage points of coverage.
These are word forms, not word families: say, said and says are three separate entries. Research figures in word families come out higher for the same number of items, see how many words you need.
The books are mostly classic novels and essays from Project Gutenberg, so older words such as upon, shall and thou rank higher here than in modern English.

How much of a text the top words cover

Share of all running words in 40 English books made up by the most frequent word forms.
Most frequent word forms	Share of the text
Top 10	24.7%
Top 50	44.1%
Top 100	52.0%
Top 250	60.9%
Top 500	67.4%

In everyday terms: if you know these 500 words and nothing else, about two words in three on a page of a novel are familiar, and one in three is not. Comfortable reading needs far more, roughly one unknown word in fifty, which is why frequency lists are a starting point rather than a goal.

How to use the list

Check the gaps, not the whole list. Most learners past the first months know nearly all of the top 100. Scan from rank 200 onwards and note the words you would not recognise in a sentence.
Learn them in context. Words like upon, though or rather are hard to learn from a translation alone. Meeting them in a story you understand works better, as described in learning words from reading.
Review on a schedule. A short list of gaps is exactly what spaced repetition is good at.
Past the basics? Our advanced word list takes the other end: exam-level words ranked by how many books use them.
Then pick a book at your level. The first-week plan shows how to check whether a book is readable for you.

The list

Download it as CSV (free to reuse with attribution, CC BY 4.0).

The 500 most frequent word forms in 40 English books of the Readly library. Per million: occurrences per million running words. Books: in how many of the books the form appears.
Rank	Word	Per million	Books
1	the	63,463	40
2	of	38,045	40
3	and	32,654	40
4	to	26,642	40
5	a	19,168	40
6	in	18,928	40
7	i	12,693	40
8	is	12,614	40
9	that	12,531	40
10	he	10,260	40
11	it	9,495	40
12	was	8,112	40
13	be	7,855	40
14	as	7,796	40
15	not	7,521	40
16	his	7,332	40
17	you	7,292	40
18	for	7,175	40
19	which	7,121	39
20	with	6,551	40
21	but	5,902	40
22	by	5,580	40
23	have	5,551	40
24	at	5,521	40
25	are	5,291	40
26	or	5,149	40
27	on	5,148	40
28	this	4,920	40
29	had	4,697	40
30	they	4,363	40
31	from	4,318	40
32	all	4,036	40
33	we	3,989	40
34	my	3,643	40
35	him	3,541	40
36	one	3,465	40
37	no	3,317	40
38	will	3,315	40
39	me	3,267	39
40	them	3,211	40
41	who	3,098	40
42	there	3,089	40
43	if	2,990	40
44	what	2,970	40
45	so	2,969	40
46	her	2,894	39
47	were	2,885	40
48	their	2,850	40
49	an	2,800	40
50	when	2,705	40
51	said	2,603	40
52	has	2,538	39
53	been	2,494	39
54	would	2,450	40
55	she	2,355	39
56	more	2,200	40
57	do	2,162	40
58	then	2,147	40
59	other	2,118	40
60	may	2,109	39
61	than	1,950	40
62	man	1,891	39
63	only	1,883	40
64	into	1,751	40
65	any	1,716	40
66	some	1,715	40
67	out	1,653	40
68	very	1,631	40
69	can	1,627	40
70	your	1,615	39
71	must	1,547	39
72	time	1,546	40
73	such	1,478	39
74	should	1,454	39
75	up	1,443	40
76	now	1,437	40
77	these	1,418	40
78	our	1,384	39
79	good	1,383	38
80	could	1,371	40
81	its	1,359	38
82	about	1,342	40
83	two	1,338	40
84	like	1,335	40
85	us	1,317	40
86	same	1,307	40
87	those	1,304	40
88	see	1,292	40
89	first	1,288	40
90	well	1,285	40
91	upon	1,270	39
92	great	1,236	40
93	how	1,142	40
94	know	1,142	40
95	made	1,140	40
96	men	1,123	39
97	shall	1,109	38
98	say	1,102	40
99	own	1,081	40
100	am	1,063	39
101	most	1,061	40
102	being	1,045	39
103	before	1,033	40
104	much	1,032	40
105	after	1,019	40
106	did	1,007	40
107	also	992	38
108	here	946	40
109	another	931	40
110	many	922	39
111	even	911	39
112	himself	894	39
113	way	880	40
114	life	873	40
115	over	872	40
116	things	860	40
117	come	856	40
118	every	844	40
119	make	841	40
120	without	838	40
121	part	836	40
122	little	833	39
123	never	830	40
124	where	815	40
125	again	815	39
126	work	805	40
127	too	787	40
128	let	762	40
129	through	755	40
130	go	754	39
131	day	747	39
132	down	747	39
133	might	737	39
134	place	728	39
135	true	727	39
136	because	720	39
137	yes	717	32
138	under	715	39
139	still	713	40
140	think	710	38
141	nothing	703	40
142	though	693	39
143	just	684	40
144	came	678	39
145	take	670	40
146	mind	669	38
147	yet	661	40
148	whole	657	39
149	always	655	39
150	both	644	40
151	old	642	39
152	long	642	39
153	nature	642	36
154	thought	636	38
155	does	635	39
156	between	620	40
157	went	611	39
158	three	609	40
159	last	597	39
160	away	596	39
161	people	595	40
162	found	594	39
163	cannot	587	40
164	right	583	40
165	give	583	39
166	therefore	577	36
167	world	576	40
168	against	572	39
169	why	563	40
170	once	552	40
171	hand	551	40
172	far	547	39
173	each	547	40
174	young	546	38
175	state	538	39
176	que	533	14
177	either	533	39
178	back	532	40
179	having	531	39
180	mr	524	33
181	nor	519	38
182	years	516	40
183	knowledge	516	38
184	however	512	38
185	others	509	40
186	while	508	39
187	better	502	39
188	words	501	39
189	name	500	40
190	perhaps	500	38
191	whether	496	38
192	thing	489	39
193	country	488	39
194	tell	486	37
195	left	484	39
196	body	483	38
197	new	479	40
198	whom	478	37
199	house	478	38
200	less	475	39
201	order	474	39
202	off	474	40
203	given	471	38
204	something	468	39
205	ever	465	39
206	god	464	35
207	light	463	39
208	took	461	40
209	eyes	451	40
210	find	446	40
211	end	444	40
212	put	443	39
213	love	442	38
214	thus	439	36
215	greater	436	38
216	different	433	39
217	called	433	39
218	certainly	432	37
219	quite	431	39
220	few	424	38
221	get	422	40
222	use	422	40
223	done	419	40
224	soul	417	34
225	room	416	38
226	among	415	39
227	seen	415	40
228	myself	414	36
229	case	412	39
230	power	411	38
231	word	411	40
232	head	409	39
233	water	406	38
234	saw	405	38
235	general	402	38
236	money	401	37
237	reason	401	39
238	death	399	39
239	present	398	39
240	son	398	36
241	themselves	397	39
242	art	394	35
243	night	389	37
244	rather	388	39
245	best	388	40
246	father	388	37
247	truth	387	39
248	above	384	39
249	anything	382	40
250	friend	381	36
251	ah	379	28
252	look	375	38
253	matter	372	39
254	certain	371	39
255	asked	369	35
256	indeed	366	39
257	face	366	38
258	side	364	39
259	law	364	38
260	door	362	35
261	itself	362	40
262	course	360	39
263	since	356	39
264	dear	355	31
265	taken	353	39
266	heard	353	38
267	small	353	39
268	ought	352	37
269	kind	351	40
270	looked	349	39
271	manner	346	38
272	going	346	40
273	mean	345	40
274	half	345	40
275	means	344	40
276	number	343	38
277	almost	340	39
278	second	336	39
279	together	335	40
280	times	334	40
281	already	332	40
282	form	330	39
283	days	330	39
284	want	328	40
285	hands	327	39
286	women	327	35
287	sir	327	33
288	soon	326	39
289	year	326	39
290	able	326	39
291	four	325	39
292	point	324	38
293	seems	324	38
294	moment	324	37
295	sort	321	38
296	question	319	37
297	brought	318	39
298	really	318	39
299	seemed	317	37
300	oh	314	28
301	gave	313	39
302	become	312	39
303	don't	312	31
304	count	309	32
305	speak	307	39
306	known	307	39
307	idea	306	38
308	enough	306	39
309	human	306	38
310	woman	306	36
311	began	305	34
312	replied	305	29
313	told	305	38
314	home	304	39
315	set	303	39
316	towards	302	38
317	got	302	37
318	believe	298	37
319	possible	298	38
320	during	298	38
321	five	296	40
322	next	296	39
323	used	295	38
324	rest	294	40
325	price	291	34
326	heart	289	38
327	often	289	39
328	read	289	38
329	understand	286	38
330	least	286	40
331	interest	285	37
332	neither	285	38
333	knew	284	37
334	mother	284	36
335	opinion	283	35
336	says	282	38
337	whose	281	38
338	sense	281	38
339	air	280	39
340	pleasure	279	36
341	stranger	278	26
342	poor	277	38
343	answer	275	39
344	turned	274	38
345	letter	273	37
346	earth	273	37
347	round	273	38
348	evil	273	33
349	sometimes	272	38
350	necessary	270	35
351	person	269	40
352	until	269	38
353	parts	268	35
354	laws	268	30
355	alone	268	40
356	ii	266	36
357	value	266	37
358	near	265	39
359	saying	265	37
360	sent	264	38
361	ask	264	38
362	cried	262	28
363	account	261	39
364	common	261	39
365	making	261	38
366	help	257	39
367	natural	257	39
368	felt	257	38
369	subject	257	38
370	leave	256	37
371	land	255	38
372	according	254	38
373	business	253	38
374	fact	253	38
375	eye	251	38
376	large	251	39
377	suppose	250	36
378	high	248	40
379	passed	247	36
380	management	245	20
381	public	245	37
382	book	244	39
383	note	243	37
384	several	243	39
385	children	243	38
386	sun	240	35
387	within	240	40
388	labour	240	24
389	full	238	39
390	wife	237	35
391	call	237	40
392	everything	236	38
393	following	235	37
394	city	235	35
395	further	235	39
396	later	235	37
397	real	235	39
398	cause	235	39
399	produce	234	32
400	wish	233	38
401	friends	231	37
402	although	230	34
403	king	230	32
404	trade	230	30
405	morning	229	36
406	seem	229	39
407	bad	229	38
408	fear	227	36
409	object	227	35
410	war	227	35
411	gold	227	37
412	science	226	33
413	justice	224	37
414	open	223	40
415	doubt	221	39
416	hear	221	37
417	return	221	38
418	till	221	36
419	age	221	39
420	greatest	220	37
421	class	220	34
422	equal	220	34
423	family	219	37
424	view	219	38
425	ideas	219	32
426	third	219	38
427	keep	218	40
428	philosophy	218	27
429	appear	215	38
430	ground	214	39
431	gone	213	38
432	makes	213	40
433	virtue	211	32
434	looking	211	37
435	written	211	39
436	became	210	36
437	thou	207	20
438	care	207	38
439	society	207	35
440	effect	206	37
441	sure	206	37
442	gods	205	19
443	hope	205	37
444	dead	205	37
445	lost	204	39
446	ten	204	40
447	show	202	39
448	voice	202	37
449	particular	202	36
450	pay	202	36
451	thousand	202	38
452	live	202	39
453	beg	201	30
454	government	201	31
455	longer	199	40
456	free	198	40
457	study	198	37
458	hundred	198	39
459	fire	197	37
460	probably	197	36
461	white	197	37
462	character	196	37
463	turn	196	39
464	else	196	39
465	pass	194	39
466	need	194	39
467	herself	194	33
468	meaning	193	37
469	desire	193	37
470	held	193	38
471	brother	193	33
472	service	192	34
473	quantity	192	25
474	anyone	190	28
475	silver	190	31
476	language	189	36
477	doing	189	39
478	force	189	38
479	suddenly	188	37
480	received	188	34
481	yourself	186	32
482	latter	186	35
483	bring	185	40
484	short	185	40
485	remember	184	38
486	position	184	37
487	sea	183	36
488	twenty	182	40
489	hardly	181	35
490	change	180	40
491	scientific	179	24
492	letters	179	35
493	capital	179	29
494	history	178	38
495	coming	178	39
496	speaking	178	37
497	example	178	34
498	army	178	28
499	answered	178	31
500	fall	178	40

How we counted

We read the EPUB files of the English books in the Readly library in reading order, removed the Project Gutenberg licence, tables of contents and other front and back matter, and split the text into words: letters, with apostrophes and hyphens inside a word kept. Capitals were lowered, so The and the are one form. A word counted only if it appears in at least a third of the books. That rule keeps character names and one author's favourite words off the list. Leftover pieces of contractions and names (ll, ve, de) were removed. The same rules produce the figures on unique words in 117 books.

The script is part of the site's source; the data is recounted whenever books are added.