5000 Most: Common English Words List

The Oxford 5000 is an expanded core word list designed for advanced learners. It builds upon the Oxford 3000, adding 2,000 higher-level words that align with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

Prioritization tips

• Learn lemmas (base forms) and frequent inflections (go, goes, went).
• Prioritize verbs and adjectives with high utility.
• Learn multiword expressions and phrasal verbs (take off, look after).
• Include high-frequency proper nouns and numbers/dates expressions if relevant.

of the words found in everyday conversations, newspapers, and magazines. Eton Institute Why This List Matters

Read popular fiction and non-fiction with minimal dictionary use. 5000 most common english words list

How Is the List Created?

Compilers use large corpora (electronic text collections) of modern English, such as:

Here's a sample Python code snippet to get started: The Oxford 5000 is an expanded core word

5000 English Frequency Words (Scribd): A popular community-uploaded document that ranks words by their part of speech and frequency. 5000 English Frequency Words | PDF - Scribd

: An expanded core word list for advanced learners (B2–C1 level) based on the Oxford English Corpus. You can find it at Oxford Learner's Dictionaries Longman Communication 3000/5000 Learn lemmas (base forms) and frequent inflections (go,

Here's a sample list of the 5000 most common English words: