100 Most Common Spanish Words

100 most common spanish words
100 most common Spanish words

If you were to do a study on 20 million Spanish words, what do you think are the most frequent words that come up again and again. In Mark Davies’ 2006 work, “A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish. Core Vocabulary for Learners” he has compiled the most frequently reoccurring words in the Spanish Language.

Now, most of these consist of prepositions and articles, which are the necessary gears in your Spanish small talk to get you going, but throughout this list you’ll find some crucial words and verbs.

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List of the Top 100 Most Common Spanish Words

1. el / la (def. art.) the
2. de (prep.) of, from
3. que (conj.) that, which
4. y (conj.) and
5. a (prep.) to, at
6. en (prep.) in, on
7. un (indef. art.) a, an
8. ser (verb) to be
9. se (pron.) -self, oneself [reflexive marker]
10. no (adv.) no
11. haber (verb) to have
12. por (prep.) by, for, through
13. con (prep.) with
14. su (adj.) his, her, their, your (fam.)
15. para (prep.) for, to, in order to
16. como (conj.) like, as
17. estar (verb) to be
18. tener (verb) to have
19. le (pron.) [3rd pers. indirect object pronoun]
20. lo (art.) the (+ noun)
21. lo (pron.) [3rd pers. masc. direct object pronoun]
22. todo (adj.) all, every
23. pero (conj.) but, yet, except
24. más (adj.) more
25. hacer (verb.) to do, make
26. o (conj.) or
27. poder (verb) to be able to, can
28. decir (verb) to tell, say
29. este (adj.) this (m); esta (f)
30. ir (verb) to go
31. otro (adj.) other, another
32. ese (adj.) that (m); esa (f)
33. la (pron.) [3rd pers. fem. direct object pronoun]
34. si (conj.) if, whether
35. me (pron.) me
36. ya (adv.) already, still
37. ver (verb) to see
38. porque (conj.) because
39. dar (verb) to give
40. cuando (conj.) when
41. él (pron.) he
42. muy (adv.) very, really
43. sin (prep.) without
44. vez (noun, f.) time, occurrence
45. mucho (adj.) much, many, a lot
46. saber (verb) to know
47. qué (pron.) what?, which?, how (+ adj.)
48. sobre (prep.) on top of, over, about
49. mi (adj.) my
50. alguno (adj.) some; (pron.) someone
51. mismo (adj.) same
52. yo (pron.) I
53. también (adv.) also
54. hasta (prep.) until, up to; (adv.) even
55. año (noun, m.) year
56. dos (num.) two
57. querer (verb) to want, love
58. entre (prep.) between
59. así (adv.) like that
60. primero (adj.) first
61. desde (prep.) from, since
62. grande (adj.) large, great, big
63. eso (pron., n.) that
64. ni (conj.) not even, neither, nor
65. nos (pron.) us
66. llegar (verb) to arrive
67. pasar (verb) to pass, spend (time)
68. tiempo (noun, m.) time, weather
69. ella (pron.) she; ellas them
70. (adv.) yes
71. día (noun, m.) day
72. uno (num.) one
73. bien (adv.) well
74. poco (adj.) little few; (adv.) a little bit
75. deber (verb) should, ought to; to owe
76. entonces (adv.) so, then
77. poner (verb) to put (on); get (+ adj.)
78. cosa (noun, f.) thing
79. tanto (adj.) much
80. hombre (noun, m.) man, mankind, husband
81. parecer (verb) to seem, look like
82. nuestro (adj.) our
83. tan (adv.) such, a, too, so
84. donde (conj.) where
85. ahora (adv.) now
86. parte (noun, f.) part, portion
87. después (adv.) after
88. vida (noun, f.) life
89. quedar (verb) to remain, stay
90. siempre (adv.) always
91. creer (verb) to believe
92. hablar (verb) to speak, talk
93. llevar (verb) to take, carry
94. dejar (verb) to let, leave
95. nada (pron.) nothing
96. cada (adj.) each, every
97. seguir (verb) to follow
98. menos (adj.) less, fewer
99. nuevo (adj.) new
100. encontrar (verb) to find

More information:

A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish. Core Vocabulary for Learners, by Mark Davies, 286 p. (2006)
This provides a frequency list of the most common 5000 words in the Spanish language based on a broad text corpus of 20 million Spanish words. The corpus includes a balanced sampling of written and spoken language and a balanced representation of variants used in Spain and Latin America. Each dictionary entry lists the word’s rank, part of speech, its English translation, a sentence demonstrating the word’s usage in context, and the number of occurrences of the word per million words of the corpus.

In addition, the dictionary contains much supplemental information that students and instructors will find useful. There is an additional alphabetical list of the 5000 words, ordered lists of the most frequent Spanish nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and other parts of speech. Of interest are also the 30 additional informational boxes interspersed throughout the book. These include ordered lists of thematically linked words (e.g., colors, weather, family terms, opposites, verbs of movement) as well as differences in registers and more. This is a useful book for instructors and students alike.