Determining how many words exist in the English language is not definitive, as each dictionary includes or excludes different words. However, a core lexicon of words accounts for a grand proportion of what is used in reading, writing and listening on a day-to-day basis. Importantly, a person’s education, interests and profession will have a significant impact on their overall vocabulary.
- Many estimates suggest that the English language is made up of over 1 million words.
- This high figure also accounts for multiple forms of the same word, alongside words that are not used in modern English.
- A 2010 research project between Harvard and Google also arrived at this figure, also predicting that the language would grow by several thousands of words each year.
- However, the Oxford English dictionary (2nd Edition) defines approximately 600,000 word forms.
- Of these, it defines 171,476 words as being currently of use (alongside modern examples of their usage).
- The remaining words include many outdated words that are no longer in common use.
- Each year, the dictionary is modified in order to remove words, account for new words or change meanings for words that already exist.
- The average American’s vocabulary (39 years old) stands at 29,851 words.
- This means that their vocabulary makes up 17.41% of the total English language words currently in use.
- Incredibly, one study found that knowing just 1.75% of currently used words can allow learners to understand 95% of the words they read.
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How many words in the English language are actually used?
- 95% of everyday texts and speech are covered by the top 3,000 most common words.
- Reducing this down to the top 1,000 words still covers 89% of text and speech.
- Interestingly, 33% of text and speech is covered by just the top 25 words.
Top 10 most common words in English
| Rank* | Word | Word Length | Word type |
| #1 | The | 3 | Article |
| #2 | Be | 2 | Verb |
| #3 | To | 2 | Preposition |
| #4 | Of | 2 | Preposition |
| #5 | And | 3 | Coordinator |
| #6 | A | 1 | Article |
| #7 | In | 2 | Preposition |
| #8 | That | 4 | Subordinator, Determiner |
| #9 | Have | 4 | Verb |
| #10 | I | 1 | Pronoun |
Starting letters in the English language
- In an analysis of 370,105 English language words, the most common starting letter for a word in the English language is “S”.
- The letter “S” starts 10.47% of words in the English language.
- This is followed by the letter “P” (9.42%) and the letter “C” (8.68%).
| Starting letter | Count | Percentage |
| A | 25,417 | 6.87% |
| B | 18,413 | 4.98% |
| C | 32,107 | 8.68% |
| D | 18,733 | 5.06% |
| E | 14,197 | 3.84% |
| F | 11,893 | 3.21% |
| G | 10,953 | 2.96% |
| H | 13,743 | 3.71% |
| I | 13,199 | 3.57% |
| J | 2,840 | 0.77% |
| K | 3,952 | 1.07% |
| L | 10,002 | 2.70% |
| M | 19,805 | 5.35% |
| N | 13,459 | 3.64% |
| O | 12,681 | 3.43% |
| P | 34,860 | 9.42% |
| Q | 1,793 | 0.48% |
| R | 16,783 | 4.53% |
| S | 38,764 | 10.47% |
| T | 18,819 | 5.08% |
| U | 22,767 | 6.15% |
| V | 5,329 | 1.44% |
| W | 6,559 | 1.77% |
| X | 507 | 0.14% |
| Y | 1,143 | 0.31% |
| Z | 1,387 | 0.37% |
A graph is given below to show the most common starting letters for words in the English language:
Ending letters in the English language
- The most common ending letter for a word in the English language is “S”.
- The letter “S” ends 20.44% of words in the English language.
- This is followed by the letter “E” (15.39%) and the letter “Y” (9.94%).
| Ending letter | Count | Percentage |
| A | 16,373 | 4.42% |
| B | 638 | 0.17% |
| C | 13,690 | 3.70% |
| D | 30,894 | 8.35% |
| E | 56,959 | 15.39% |
| F | 1,172 | 0.32% |
| G | 19,493 | 5.27% |
| H | 6,069 | 1.64% |
| I | 3,372 | 0.91% |
| J | 30 | 0.01% |
| K | 3,535 | 0.96% |
| L | 18,323 | 4.95% |
| M | 10,399 | 2.81% |
| N | 25,638 | 6.93% |
| O | 3,577 | 0.97% |
| P | 2,737 | 0.74% |
| Q | 30 | 0.01% |
| R | 20,768 | 5.61% |
| S | 75,666 | 20.44% |
| T | 20,779 | 5.61% |
| U | 812 | 0.22% |
| V | 141 | 0.04% |
| W | 953 | 0.26% |
| X | 1,027 | 0.28% |
| Y | 36,778 | 9.94% |
| Z | 252 | 0.07% |
A graph is given below to show the most common ending letters for words in the English language:
Word length in the English language
- Words containing 9-letters are the most common in the English Language.
- 9-letter words make up 14.43% of words in the English language.
- This is followed by 8-letter words (13.95%) and 10-letter words (12.39%).
| Word length | Count | Percentage |
| 1 | 26 | 0.01% |
| 2 | 427 | 0.12% |
| 3 | 2,130 | 0.58% |
| 4 | 7,186 | 1.94% |
| 5 | 15,920 | 4.30% |
| 6 | 29,874 | 8.07% |
| 7 | 41,998 | 11.35% |
| 8 | 51,627 | 13.95% |
| 9 | 53,402 | 14.43% |
| 10 | 45,872 | 12.39% |
| 11 | 37,539 | 10.14% |
| 12 | 29,125 | 7.87% |
| 13 | 20,944 | 5.66% |
| 14 | 14,149 | 3.82% |
| 15 | 8,846 | 2.39% |
| 16 | 5,182 | 1.40% |
| 17 | 2,967 | 0.80% |
| 18 | 1,471 | 0.40% |
| 19 | 760 | 0.21% |
| 20 | 359 | 0.10% |
| 21 | 168 | 0.05% |
| 22 | 74 | 0.02% |
| 23 | 31 | 0.01% |
| 24 | 12 | 0.00% |
| 25 | 8 | 0.00% |
| 26 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 27 | 3 | 0.00% |
| 28 | 2 | 0.00% |
| 29 | 2 | 0.00% |
| 30 | 0 | 0.00% |
| 31 | 1 | 0.00% |
A graph is given below to show the most common word lengths in the English language:
English language word origin
- It can be estimated that around 60% of words in the English language are derived from Latin.
- Around half of these are directly from Latin.
- Approximately 10% of these come from Latin through French.
- 20% – 25% of English words are Anglo-Saxon in origin.
- 15% – 20% of English words are Greek in origin.
- However, different studies have come up with greatly varied estimates.
- Overall, the English language is known to borrow words from many different languages.
How many English words have silent letters?
- The English language is well-known for using silent letters in its words.
- It is estimated that around 60% of words in the English language contain silent letters.
- However, originally, many of these letters were actually pronounced.
- The Great Vowel Shift affected the English language during the Middle Ages, changing the pronunciation of long vowels.
- Additionally, when writing, many people would add additional letters for different reasons (for example: giving the words the appearance of those from other languages).
- Over several centuries, this led to words being pronounced similarly or equally to how they are in modern times, despite little to no changes in their spelling.