The 10 Most-Used Words in the English Language

Merriam-Webster says that while there’s no exact number of words in the English language because it’s flexible and always changing, certain estimates put the total around 1 million. If you remove obscure words that are rarely used, that number shrinks to a still-impressive 470,000, give or take a few thousand. 

Of course, some of those words are much more common in everyday writing and speaking than others. In fact, there’s evidence that only 10 words make up roughly 25% of all English words written down on paper. These most frequently used words were determined by the Oxford English Dictionary’s project to determine how frequently words are used. Here are the 10 English words used the most out of the entire language.

10. I

The OEC lists “I” as the 10th-most common English word, as well as the most frequently used pronoun, just ahead of “it” (which ranks at No. 11). “I” — as we use it today — is a shortened version of the 12th-century Old English word ic. That word was reduced to just i by the middle part of the century, and scribes began capitalizing it by the mid-13th century to lessen confusion and make it clear that “I” was meant to be written as its own word. While there’s no precise percentage of how often “I” is used as a word, the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that it occurs over 1,000 times per million words — a category they refer to as Band 8, which includes the most frequently used terms.

9. Have

“Have” comes in as the ninth-most common word and a fellow member of Band 8 (as are all the terms on this list). This verb has several uses, including “to hold,” “to own,” “to possess,” “to be subject to,” and so on. It originated in Old English as habban, which had a similar meaning.

8. That

The word “that” can be used as a pronoun, a conjunction, an adjective, or an adverb. With so many potential uses, its appearance on this list is no real shock. It’s derived from the Old English paet, which was widely used in a manner similar to how we use it today.

7. In

“In” is the first of three prepositions (words relied on to connect nouns and pronouns to other parts of speech) to crack the list. This word can refer to a real place that physical objects occupy, or to more abstract and less tangible concepts such as moments in time. “In” developed as an Old English term spelled the same way with the same definition.

6. A

The indefinite article “a” is most commonly used in reference to nonspecific nouns, or when bringing up a certain topic for the first time in conversation. Today, “a” typically precedes consonant sounds, while “an” precedes vowel sounds — and because there are many more consonants than vowels, “a” is on this list and “an” is absent. That said, there was a time when only “an” existed. The Old English term an was created in the 12th century, and by the mid-12th century, a formed as a version to precede consonant sounds.

5. And

The word “and” is a coordinating conjunction, meaning that it connects words, phrases, and clauses of equal importance. It comes from the Old English and (sometimes spelled ond), which originally meant “thereupon, next” when first coined.

4. Of

“Of” is another useful preposition. It comes to us from the Old English term æf, meaning “away from.” It was only during the Middle English period that “of” shifted toward being a translation of the Latin de, which is more akin to how we now use “of.”

3. To

“To” edges out “of” as the most common preposition, as well as the third-most common English word. This word is commonly used to express direction, but you might also find it as part of an infinitive verb phrase, such as “to run.” When it developed in Old English, it could be spelled to, ta, or te, meaning “in the direction of.”

2. Be

“Be” is the most commonly used English verb, and the second-most common word in the entire language. The various conjugations (“am,” “is,” “are,” etc.) count toward the high ranking of “be.” It’s derived from the Old English boen, boem, or bion, all of which were defined the same way no matter their spelling. 

1. The

There’s no English word that appears more often in printed text than the definite article “the.” It precedes specific nouns, such as “the book.” “The” comes from the late Old English term þe; the first letter is a thorn, which dropped out of the English alphabet around the 1400s.