These are the most frequent words in a large collection of modern American English, from conversation, TV, newspapers, magazines, books, and academic writing. They are mostly small words: the, be, have, get, make, think, about. You already know many of them. The challenge is using them correctly and quickly, because they carry the grammar of almost every sentence.
Each word comes with a plain meaning, examples you can say out loud, the words it usually goes with, and notes for Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish speakers on the mistakes they often make.
Choose a group of 100
How to learn them
- Go in order. The first 100 words appear in almost every sentence you will hear.
- Say the examples out loud. Read each one, then say it again without looking.
- Learn the partners. Make a decision, take a break, depend on: words come in groups.
- Choose Português or Español. Tap your language at the top of the list to see a translation and a note on a mistake speakers of your language often make.
- Practice in a lesson. Many words link to the lesson that teaches them, and Daily Practice keeps them fresh.
Word list and ranking: A Frequency Dictionary of Contemporary American English (Mark Davies and Dee Gardner, Routledge, 2010). Meanings, examples, word partners, translations, and notes are written for Thomas’s Classroom. For deeper word study, see the Word Lab.