英语最常用单词列表中的内容是基于牛津字典線上版和牛津英语词典对牛津英语语料库中超过10亿的单词所作的分析研究。[1]这一个资源汇集了各种类的文本,包括“从文学小说、专业期刊到每日的报纸杂志,从英国国会议事录到聊天室、电子邮件以及网络博客”,[2]这与其他一些语料库只收集确定来源的文本不同。[3]
需要注意的是下表所列出的项可能代表了不止一个单词,而是词条。例如be就包括了is、was、be和are。[4]另外,下面列出的最常用的100个单词在牛津英语语料库中占到了所有单词的50%。[1]
排名
|
单词
|
1 |
the
|
2 |
be
|
3 |
to
|
4 |
of
|
5 |
and
|
6 |
a
|
7 |
in
|
8 |
that
|
9 |
have
|
10 |
I
|
11 |
it
|
12 |
for
|
13 |
not
|
14 |
on
|
15 |
with
|
16 |
he
|
17 |
as
|
18 |
you
|
19 |
do
|
20 |
at
|
|
排名
|
单词
|
21 |
this
|
22 |
but
|
23 |
his
|
24 |
by
|
25 |
from
|
26 |
they
|
27 |
we
|
28 |
say
|
29 |
her
|
30 |
she
|
31 |
or
|
32 |
an
|
33 |
will
|
34 |
my
|
35 |
one
|
36 |
all
|
37 |
would
|
38 |
there
|
39 |
their
|
40 |
what
|
|
排名
|
单词
|
41 |
so
|
42 |
up
|
43 |
out
|
44 |
if
|
45 |
about
|
46 |
who
|
47 |
get
|
48 |
which
|
49 |
go
|
50 |
me
|
51 |
when
|
52 |
make
|
53 |
can
|
54 |
like
|
55 |
time
|
56 |
no
|
57 |
just
|
58 |
him
|
59 |
know
|
60 |
take
|
|
排名
|
单词
|
61 |
people
|
62 |
into
|
63 |
year
|
64 |
your
|
65 |
good
|
66 |
some
|
67 |
could
|
68 |
them
|
69 |
see
|
70 |
other
|
71 |
than
|
72 |
then
|
73 |
now
|
74 |
look
|
75 |
only
|
76 |
come
|
77 |
its
|
78 |
over
|
79 |
think
|
80 |
also
|
|
排名
|
单词
|
81 |
back
|
82 |
after
|
83 |
use
|
84 |
two
|
85 |
how
|
86 |
our
|
87 |
work
|
88 |
first
|
89 |
well
|
90 |
way
|
91 |
even
|
92 |
new
|
93 |
want
|
94 |
because
|
95 |
any
|
96 |
these
|
97 |
give
|
98 |
day
|
99 |
most
|
100 |
us
|
|