Where do these lists come from?

From the OpenSubtitles corpus — tens of millions of lines of film and television subtitles — counted and ranked by the FrequencyWords project. That is a record of speech rather than of writing, which is why the ranking suits people who want to talk.

Why does the same verb appear more than once?

Because these are word forms, not dictionary headwords. In Spanish, es, era and fue are all the verb ser, and all three are counted separately because all three are things you actually hear.

How many words do I need?

The first hundred carry a surprising share of ordinary conversation, and the first thousand carry most of it. After that each new word buys you less, which is the point at which talking to someone beats studying a list.

Can I use these lists in my own project?

Yes. They are derived from CC BY-SA 4.0 sources and are published under the same licence, so use them freely as long as you credit the sources and pass the same freedom on.

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The words people actually say, in 53 languages.

Ranked by how often each word turns up in real speech, not in writing — and every single one carries its meaning in English. Search all 53 languages at once, or take a whole list with you.

53: languages
407,063: words, ranked by how often they are said
Every one: carries its meaning in English
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Type English to see it in every language, or type a foreign word to find out what it means and whose it is.

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Questions

Where do these lists come from?: From the OpenSubtitles corpus — tens of millions of lines of film and television subtitles — counted and ranked by the FrequencyWords project. That is a record of speech rather than of writing, which is why the ranking suits people who want to talk.
Why does the same verb appear more than once?: Because these are word forms, not dictionary headwords. In Spanish, es, era and fue are all the verb ser, and all three are counted separately because all three are things you actually hear.
How many words do I need?: The first hundred carry a surprising share of ordinary conversation, and the first thousand carry most of it. After that each new word buys you less, which is the point at which talking to someone beats studying a list.
Can I use these lists in my own project?: Yes. They are derived from CC BY-SA 4.0 sources and are published under the same licence, so use them freely as long as you credit the sources and pass the same freedom on.

Words stick once you use them.

A list gets you the first few hundred. Saying them to someone who speaks the language is what makes them stay.

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