Top 100 Most-Used German Words

Learning these words will be helpful for beginning German speakers

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Updated on January 28, 2019

Have you ever wondered what the top 500, 1,000 or 10,000 German words were? If you need to learn German vocabulary, which words should you learn first? Which ones are most frequently used?

The Projekt Deutscher Wortschatz at the Universität Leipzig scanned texts and included variations of the same word, including capitalization versus lower case and other possible forms of any particular word. The definite article ("the") appears in all of its German variations: der/Der, die/Die, den, etc. The verb "to be" appears in all of its conjugated forms: ist, sind, war, sei, etc. Even the new and old spellings of dass/daß are considered two different words.

The Leipzig researchers noted that if one were to select different text sources for analysis, one would get different results. An analysis of the vocabulary found in a novel versus that in a comic book or a newspaper would not be similar. Obviously, an analysis of spoken German would also yield different results.

Here are charts showing the top 100 most-used German words, and one showing the top 30 most-spoken German words. Students of German 101 should get familiar with these words and their forms.

Top 100 German Words Edited and Ranked by Frequency of Use

Rank	German	English
1	der (den, dem, des)	the m.
2	die (der, den)	the f.
3	und	and
4	in (im)	in, into (in the)
5	von (vom)	of, from
6	zu (zum, zur)	to; at; too
7	das (dem, des)	the n.
8	mit	with
9	sich	himself, itself, yourself
10	auf	on
11	für	for
12	ist (sein, sind, war, sei, etc.)	is
13	nicht	not
14	ein (eine, einen, einer, einem, eines)	a, an
15	als	as, than, when
16	auch	also, too
17	es	it
18	an (am/ans)	to, at, by
19	werden (wurde, wird)	become, get
20	aus	from, out of
21	er	he, it
22	hat (haben, hatte, habe)	has/have
23	dass / daß	that
24	sie	she, it; they
25	nach	to, after
26	bei	at, by
27	um	around, at
28	noch	still, yet
29	wie	as, how
30	über	about, over, via
31	so	so, such, thus
32	Sie	you (formal)
33	nur	only
34	oder	or
35	aber	but
36	vor (vorm, vors)	before, in front of; of
37	bis	by, until
38	mehr	more
39	durch	by, through
40	man	one, they
41	Prozent (das)	percent
42	kann (können, konnte, etc.)	be able, can
43	gegen	against; around
44	schon	already
45	wenn	if, when
46	sein (seine, seinen, etc.)	his
47	Mark (Euro)	Mark (Euro) currency
48	ihre/ihr	her, their
49	dann	then
50	unter	under, among

51	wir	we
52	soll (sollen, sollte, etc.)	should, ought to
53	ich	I (personal pronoun)
54	Jahr (das, Jahren, Jahres, etc.)	year
55	zwei	two
56	diese (dieser, dieses, etc.)	this, these
57	wieder	again
58	Uhr	Most frequently used as "o'clock" in telling time.
59	will (wollen, willst, etc.)	wants
60	zwischen	between
61	immer	always
62	Millionen (eine Million)	millions
63	was	what
64	sagte (sagen, sagt)	said (say, says)
65	gibt (es gibt; geben)	gives
66	alle	all, everyone
67	seit	since
68	muss (müssen)	must
69	doch	but, nevertheless, after all
70	jetzt	now
71	drei	three
72	neue (neu, neuer, neuen, etc.)	new
73	damit	with it/that; by that; because of that; so that
74	bereits	already
75	da	since, because
76	ab	off, away; exit
77	ohne	without
78	sondern	but rather
79	selbst	myself, himself
80	ersten (erste, erstes, etc.)	first
81	nun	now; then; well?
82	etwa	about, approximately; for instance
83	heute	today, nowadays
84	weil	because
85	ihm	to/for him
86	Menschen (der Mensch)	people
87	Deutschland (das)	Germany
88	anderen (andere, anderes, etc.)	"other(s)
89	rund	approximately, about
90	ihn	him
91	Ende (das)	end
92	jedoch	nevertheless
93	Zeit (die)	time
94	uns	us
95	Stadt (die)	city, town
96	geht (gehen, ging, etc.)	goes
97	sehr	very
98	hier	here
99	ganz	entire(ly), complete(ly), whole(ly)
100	Berlin (das)	Berlin

Top 30 Words in Spoken German

Rank	German	English
1	ich	I
2	das	the; that (one) neuter
3	die	the f.
4	ist	is
5	nicht	not
6	ja	yes
7	du	you
8	der	the m.
9	und	and
10	sie	she, they
11	so	so, thus
12	wir	we
13	was	what
14	noch	still, yet
15	da	there, here; since, because
16	mal	times; once
17	mit	with
18	auch	also, too
19	in	in, into
20	es	it
21	zu	to; at; too
22	aber	but
23	habe / hab'	(I) have
24	den	the
25	eine	a, an fem. indefinite article
26	schon	already
27	man	one, they
28	doch	but, nevertheless, after all
29	war	was
30	dann	the

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Flippo, Hyde. "Top 100 Most-Used German Words." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/top-most-used-german-words-4077044. Flippo, Hyde. (2020, August 27). Top 100 Most-Used German Words. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/top-most-used-german-words-4077044 Flippo, Hyde. "Top 100 Most-Used German Words." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/top-most-used-german-words-4077044 (accessed February 7, 2023).