Most Common Words

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There are an estimated 250,000 words in the English language, plus three times as many words with many meanings. However, most English teachers will say that a mastery of the 3,000 most commonly used words in English will enable you to understand 90 to 95 percent of the content in English newspapers, books, movies, and conversations. In addition, with this level of vocabulary, you can easily learn more from context, further expanding your vocabulary. The most important thing is to choose useful words to learn in order to quickly improve your comprehension and avoid wasting time.

Start with the most commonly used words

The most efficient way to improve your English vocabulary is to start with the most commonly used words. If you are a complete beginner, the following links have a handful of words to get you started. If you don’t know a word, look it up in a paper or online dictionary. Either way, it’s the most effective way to learn a new word. The key to memorizing English vocabulary is regular practice.

Once you have mastered a small number of words, you can move on to the following broader vocabulary. Remember, although native English speakers have a vocabulary of at least 20,000 words, learning 3,000 words from the appropriate glossary is enough to understand most everyday conversations and writing in English. If you want to learn English more quickly and effectively, you should focus on memorizing the most common words, rather than memorizing less useful words in an unsystematic way.