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Can you name the most commonly used words in the English language?
created by
davidr
Enter a word in the box below
Correctly named words will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Note: closely-related words, such as run/runs/ran/running/runner, are treated as being the same word.
Source:
Oxford English Dictionary
Also try:
Commonest Two-Letter Words
You have 12 minutes to guess after you click the button below.
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Enter word:
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/100 words correct
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Show Missed Answers
Rank
Word
1.
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Rank
Word
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Rank
Word
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Rank
Word
61.
62.
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66.
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69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
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Rank
Word
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
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99.
100.
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There are
357 comments
for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)
Commonest English Words Quiz
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Created by
:
davidr
-
Published
: January 12th, 2009
Category
:
Language
Plays
: 2,128,945
Tags:
common
,
english
,
used
,
rank
Loading friend results....
LateBloom
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:25 GMT
4 points
neat quiz.....fyi....you've got "the" written three times in the title on top here....should only be there twice.
percussiveness:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:28 GMT
97 points
One could make some interesting commentary based on the relative positions of some of these... 'take' is higher than 'give', 'I' is the highest pronoun, etc. Food for thought.
paoletti:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:29 GMT
68 points
No yes? :)
danzam
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:31 GMT
96 points
surprised 'eat' and 'food' werent on the list. I always think about food.
nearlyextinct
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:35 GMT
58 points
The instructions give away a lot of answers.
LateBloom
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:39 GMT
5 points
wow....quick fix....well done!
AhLeah
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:48 GMT
27 points
Dan Zambito: Sex isn't here, either.
Jordan:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 05:50 GMT
29 points
lol such easy words missed, wow...
marpocky
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:07 GMT
14 points
The grouping of "closely-related words" strikes me as a little inconsistent. Is/are/am are all with "be" and has/had are with "have," but a/an are separate, as well as lots of pronoun pairs like I/me, he/him, she/her, they/them, we/us.
jaspa
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:27 GMT
50 points
I can't wait to hear how many "Aw, I knew that one!" replies are on here. Well, duh. These are the most commonly known things among all English speakers!
Joe_Ball
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:28 GMT
23 points
@Andy B: Technically speaking (this is the Oxford English Dictionary, after all, it's not just a mistake), 'I' and 'me' are separate because they are different word roots - you can't get to one by conjugating the other.
IHateRegistering
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:35 GMT
12 points
Why is "a" and "an" two separate ones? I am also curious- is this for written word, spoken word or both?
IHateRegistering
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:42 GMT
5 points
@ Dan me too. I tried them also.
swellwrench
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 06:42 GMT
16 points
Joe Ball: True in those cases, but what about "will" and "would" and "can" and "could?"
austin massachusetts:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:19 GMT
11 points
Next quiz suggestion: Most common Latin words through history.
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deej
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:30 GMT
-6 points
great quiz (46 right POI!)
Massagraf
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:35 GMT
4 points
Wow this quiz is kinda one of the best ever! But 'he' is still more used then 'she'... Something has to be done about that.
Bethannie:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:46 GMT
0 points
Says something about our society: 'no' is there...but not 'yes'....and we have 'give' and 'need' and 'want' but no 'please' or 'thankyou'...rather sad and worrying!
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:46 GMT
25 points
@poaletti: No is on the list because it is used to express negation as well as disagreement. Yes has only one function.
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:49 GMT
7 points
@Andy B and IHR: Yeah, I was a bit confused about `a' and `an' both being there. In fact, I'd already made `an' an alternative for `a' when I discovered that `an' was on the list in its own right, and had to go back and fix it!
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:52 GMT
5 points
@I_Hate_Registering: This is from a large body of written English, including British, American, Canadian, Australian and other users of the language.
Sneuticles
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:58 GMT
8 points
73/100, one of my fave sporcles of all-time.
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davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 07:59 GMT
-6 points
@nearlyextinct: You're right but I'm disappointed that neither `Sporcle' nor `David' makes the list. :-)
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 08:24 GMT
3 points
@Balla: There's no true conditional tense in English so will/would and can/could are considered different auxilliary verbs, not different parts of the same verb.
Chumley
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 08:34 GMT
1 point
@Massagraf: I agree, since boats, cars, places, etc are often referred to as she I thought it would be higher than he. (What about s/he, that is growing in popularity)
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 09:04 GMT
4 points
@chumley and Massagraf: In days gone by, `he' was used where, now, one would use `he or she' or even `they'. (BTW, every single word in that sentence is in this quiz.) So you'd say, `If you meet somebody in the street, say hello to him', rather than `to them'. That sort of usage would be much more common than talking about boats and so on.
HalfWelsh
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 10:28 GMT
18 points
The easiest and yet most difficult quiz yet! Brilliant
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 11:00 GMT
11 points
@bethannie: Actually, `need' isn't on the list. And I think you meant `take' rather than `give' but, even then, you can take an exam, take pleasure in something, take the time and take turns to do something, take an example, take somebody's hand: it's not all about possession and materialism. Indeed, the reason the word is used so much is that it can be used in so many different ways.
ShepherdBook
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 11:23 GMT
13 points
It was fun to guess "some" only to have both "so" and "me" pop up. I then typed in "some" again and got that one. 79/100.
raggedyanne
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 11:53 GMT
3 points
I got 66 of them. I love this kind of quiz where specialized knowledge isn't necessary. Most surprising/telling one I missed: me.
swellwrench
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 11:55 GMT
4 points
@davidr: I've never heard that explanation regarding "could" and "would," and both Merriam-Webster and the OED seem to disagree (see http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/can, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/will). And keep in mind that they represent the past tense of "can" and "will" in addition to the conditional.
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Ribhump
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 12:34 GMT
-11 points
Suprised no 'is' or 'are' (although i suppose they could come under another verb (be?) but still suprised). Would've thought as words in their own rights they'd be well up there Also, weird, i put in quite a few that just didn't register, so feel a bit cheated (and this wasn't at the start when that does sometimes happen.
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 12:36 GMT
3 points
@Balla: Good point about the past tense — I hadn't thought of that. That being the case, I join you in wondering why the OED people consider would/could as separate from will/can. I probably shouldn't say `true conditional' but, rather say that the conditional (like almost all tenses in English) is formed by using an auxilliary verb, rather than by modifying the main verb directly. (Apropos of which, I was surprised that `should', `may' and `might' weren't on the list.)
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 12:37 GMT
1 point
@Ribhump: Yes, `is' and `are' come under `be'. Not sure why you found some words weren't being accepted. I can only assume that it was a glitch, a typo on your part or you thought of the word but got distracted by something else before you could type it.
radiosilence
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 15:07 GMT
38 points
At my office, the most common words seem to be s*** and d***it.
Hal_10000
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 15:12 GMT
4 points
Great quiz! Best in a while. Got 67. it's fun to just recite things in my head until i find some words to put in.
Tim95:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 15:20 GMT
21 points
I cannot believe that CHANGE is not one of them... I've been hearing that word nonstop for two years now.
davidr
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 15:22 GMT
5 points
@Tim99: Perhaps that'll change now the election's over. ;-)
Tim95:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 15:33 GMT
2 points
Oh, and SURGE. If I never hear that word again, it'll be too soon.
Uhlan
:
Jan 12th, 2009 at 16:06 GMT
6 points
Let's start a campaign to get Sporcle on the list!
2007-12 © Sporcle, Inc. -
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