WORDED

English words by frequency: all 20,000

1–100101–200201–300301–400401–500501–600601–700701–800801–900901–1,0001,001–1,1001,101–1,2001,201–1,3001,301–1,4001,401–1,5001,501–1,6001,601–1,7001,701–1,8001,801–1,9001,901–2,0002,001–2,1002,101–2,2002,201–2,3002,301–2,4002,401–2,5002,501–2,6002,601–2,7002,701–2,8002,801–2,9002,901–3,0003,001–3,1003,101–3,2003,201–3,3003,301–3,4003,401–3,5003,501–3,6003,601–3,7003,701–3,8003,801–3,9003,901–4,0004,001–4,1004,101–4,2004,201–4,3004,301–4,4004,401–4,5004,501–4,6004,601–4,7004,701–4,8004,801–4,9004,901–5,0005,001–5,1005,101–5,2005,201–5,3005,301–5,4005,401–5,5005,501–5,6005,601–5,7005,701–5,8005,801–5,9005,901–6,0006,001–6,1006,101–6,2006,201–6,3006,301–6,4006,401–6,5006,501–6,6006,601–6,7006,701–6,8006,801–6,9006,901–7,0007,001–7,1007,101–7,2007,201–7,3007,301–7,4007,401–7,5007,501–7,6007,601–7,7007,701–7,8007,801–7,9007,901–8,0008,001–8,1008,101–8,2008,201–8,3008,301–8,4008,401–8,5008,501–8,6008,601–8,7008,701–8,8008,801–8,9008,901–9,0009,001–9,1009,101–9,2009,201–9,3009,301–9,4009,401–9,5009,501–9,6009,601–9,7009,701–9,8009,801–9,9009,901–10,00010,001–10,10010,101–10,20010,201–10,30010,301–10,40010,401–10,50010,501–10,60010,601–10,70010,701–10,80010,801–10,90010,901–11,00011,001–11,10011,101–11,20011,201–11,30011,301–11,40011,401–11,50011,501–11,60011,601–11,70011,701–11,80011,801–11,90011,901–12,00012,001–12,10012,101–12,20012,201–12,30012,301–12,40012,401–12,50012,501–12,60012,601–12,70012,701–12,80012,801–12,90012,901–13,00013,001–13,10013,101–13,20013,201–13,30013,301–13,40013,401–13,50013,501–13,60013,601–13,70013,701–13,80013,801–13,90013,901–14,00014,001–14,10014,101–14,20014,201–14,30014,301–14,40014,401–14,50014,501–14,60014,601–14,70014,701–14,80014,801–14,90014,901–15,00015,001–15,10015,101–15,20015,201–15,30015,301–15,40015,401–15,50015,501–15,60015,601–15,70015,701–15,80015,801–15,90015,901–16,00016,001–16,10016,101–16,20016,201–16,30016,301–16,40016,401–16,50016,501–16,60016,601–16,70016,701–16,80016,801–16,90016,901–17,00017,001–17,10017,101–17,20017,201–17,30017,301–17,40017,401–17,50017,501–17,60017,601–17,70017,701–17,80017,801–17,90017,901–18,00018,001–18,10018,101–18,20018,201–18,30018,301–18,40018,401–18,50018,501–18,60018,601–18,70018,701–18,80018,801–18,90018,901–19,00019,001–19,10019,101–19,20019,201–19,30019,301–19,40019,401–19,50019,501–19,60019,601–19,70019,701–19,80019,801–19,90019,901–20,000

One square is 100 words, in frequency order. Squares fill in as you learn them in the quiz. Pick one to see its words.

Every word in this list, ordered by how often it actually turns up in English. Each entry has a definition, an example sentence, a Japanese translation and its pronunciation. The list is split into bands of 100, so you can work down from the top or start at the band that matches your level.

The ordering comes from wordfreq, an open-source frequency dataset that blends subtitle, book and web corpora. A word’s exact position depends on which corpus you measure, so treat these as ranks within this list rather than a fixed fact about English.

20,003 words in total

Why the order matters

Word frequency is extremely top-heavy. Below is how much of all English word usage each slice of this list accounts for, measured from the same wordfreq data.

Top 100 words
43%
Top 1,000 words
62%
Top 2,000 words
67%
Top 5,000 words
72%
All 20,003 words
74%

The first 100 words alone cover 43% of everything you read. Going from 5,000 words to 20,000 adds another 15,000 entries and gains only about two points. Securing the top of the list is what changes how much English you can follow; the tail is polish.

Read more about learning in frequency order