Top 100 Chinese Words

最常用一百个词

This Chinese word frequency list collects the 100 most common Chinese words in one table — the pronouns, verbs and nouns that make up the bulk of everyday Mandarin, ranked by how often they actually appear in real text. It is the core any Chinese learner builds on; every entry is a word of two or more characters, and the single-character words like 的 and 是 that top the raw ranking are covered by the character lists instead.

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List PDF — every entry with its rank, pinyin and meaning.
Practice sheet — One block per word: the word, its pinyin and meaning, every stroke drawn in order, then blank Tianzige cells to write it in. Print it and write.

The full list

100 most common Chinese words, in frequency order

Every word links to its own page with stroke order, pinyin and example words.

#	Word	Pinyin	POS	Meaning
1	我们	wǒmen	pron	we, us
2	他们	tāmen	pron	they, them
3	自己	zìjǐ	pron	self
4	什么	shénme	pron	what
5	这个	zhège	pron	this
6	可以	kěyǐ	v	may, can
7	问题	wèntí	n	question, problem, issue
8	没有	méiyǒu	v	have not, there be not
9	这样	zhèyàng	pron	this (kind of, sort of); so
10	知道	zhīdào	v	know
11	现在	xiànzài	time	now
12	工作	gōngzuò	v	work, do a job
13	因为	yīn wèi	conj	because
14	已经	yǐjīng	adv	already
15	时候	shíhou	n	when, time when…
16	这些	zhèxiē	pron	these
17	发展	fāzhǎn	v	develop
18	社会	shèhuì	n	society
19	一些	yìxiē	num	some
20	如果	rúguǒ	conj	if
21	世界	shìjiè	n	world
22	生活	shēnghuó	v	live
23	怎么	zěnme	pron	how
24	国家	guójiā	n	country
25	开始	kāishǐ	v	begin, start
26	时间	shíjiān	n	time
27	起来	qǐlái	v	get up, rise; [following a verb to indicate the beginning of a situation] start to; [following a verb to indicate completedeness or effectiveness]
28	今天	jīntiān	time	today
29	可能	kěnéng	v	might (happen)
30	孩子	háizi	n	child, children
31	地方	dìfang	n	place, space, room; locality (in relation to central administration)
32	但是	dànshì	conj	but
33	所以	suǒyǐ	conj	so, therefore
34	认为	rènwéi	v	think, believe
35	经济	jīngjì	n	economy
36	公司	gōngsī	n	(business) company
37	文化	wénhuà	n	culture
38	关系	guānxì	n	relation, relationship; connections, ties
39	觉得	juéde	v	think, feel
40	出来	chūlái	v	come out
41	进行	jìnxíng	v	go on, last; be under way; carry on, carry out, perform
42	重要	zhòng yào	adj	important, vital
43	这么	zhème	pron	so, such, like this
44	情况	qíngkuàng	n	situation, condition, circumstance
45	这里	zhèlǐ	pron	here
46	你们	nǐmen	pron	[plural] you
47	而且	érqiě	conj	(not only …) but also
48	企业	qǐyè	n	business establishment, enterprise
49	方面	fāngmiàn	n	aspect, respect, side
50	那么	nàme	pron	so, that; in that way
51	应该	yīnggāi	v	ought to, should
52	发现	fāxiàn	v	find
53	大家	dàjiā	pron	all, everyone
54	为了	wèile	prep	for the sake of; in order to
55	东西	dōngxi	n	stuff, thing
56	看到	kàndào	v	see
57	历史	lìshǐ	n	history
58	非常	fēicháng	adv	very, unusually
59	那个	nèige	pron	that one
60	成为	chéngwéi	v	become
61	最后	zuìhòu	adj	final, last
62	人民	rénmín	n	(the) people
63	之后	zhīhòu	loc	after, afterwards
64	研究	yán jiū	v	do research, study
65	政府	zhèngfǔ	n	government
66	先生	xiānsheng	n	Mr; mister, sir
67	人们	rénmen	n	people
68	一直	yìzhí	adv	straight (in a straight line); always, all along
69	特别	tèbié	adv	especially, particularly
70	记者	jìzhě	n	reporter, journalist
71	需要	xūyào	v	need
72	以后	yǐhòu	loc	after; afterwards
73	发生	fāshēng	v	happen, take place
74	出现	chūxiàn	v	appear
75	一起	yìqǐ	adv	together
76	国际	guójì	n	international
77	一定	yídìng	adv	certainly
78	许多	xǔduō	num	many, plenty of
79	希望	xīwàng	v	hope, wish for
80	大学	dàxué	n	university
81	然后	ránhòu	adv	afterwards, then
82	必须	bìxū	v	must, have to
83	事情	shìqíng	n	matter, thing
84	为什么	wèishénme	pron	why
85	教育	jiàoyù	v	educate
86	当时	dāngshí	time	then, at that time
87	之间	zhījiān	loc	between
88	当然	dāngrán	adv	of course, naturally, only natural
89	学校	xuéxiào	n	school
90	告诉	gàosù	v	tell
91	所有	suǒyǒu	pron	all
92	活动	huódòng	v	move about for exercise
93	学生	xuésheng	n	student
94	那些	nàxiē	pron	those
95	不同	bùtóng	adj	different
96	通过	tōngguò	prep	by means of, through, via
97	虽然	suīrán	conj	although
98	朋友	péngyǒu	n	friend
99	市场	shìchǎng	n	market
100	得到	dedào	v	get

How to use it

Studying from a frequency list

1. Work front to back

The order is the whole point. Twenty new words from the top of this list are worth more than a hundred from the bottom, because you will meet them far more often.

2. Write them, don't just read them

Download the practice sheet: every word gets its own block with the strokes drawn one by one, then blank Tianzige cells to write it in. Handwriting is what makes a character stick.

3. Open the entry pages

Every word links to its own page with the stroke order animated, all its readings, and common words built from it — the fastest way to turn a ranked row into something you remember.

4. Read past the list

Use the generator to turn any Chinese text into a worksheet, then check the characters you meet against this ranking.

Frequently asked

Questions about this list

How many Chinese words do I need to know?

1,000 words gets you through everyday conversation and simple reading; 2,000–3,000 is where newspapers and novels open up. Because this list is ranked by corpus frequency, the top of it is the highest-value study time you can spend.

Is the top 100 chinese words list free to download?

Yes. Both PDFs on this page are free, need no account, and print on US Letter. The list PDF has all 100 words; the practice sheet covers 100 words, each with its strokes drawn in order and blank cells to write in.

What order is the list in?

Strict frequency order, taken from a corpus-derived frequency dictionary of Mandarin Chinese. Rank 1 is the most frequent entry in the corpus, not the easiest or the first one a textbook introduces.

How is this word list different from the character lists?

This list only carries words of two or more characters, so it answers a different question from the character lists. Single-character words such as 的, 是 and 一 do sit at the very top of the raw frequency ranking — in Chinese a single character is often a word in its own right — but they are already covered by the character lists and by each character's own page, so repeating them here would just push the vocabulary you came for off the page.

More lists

Other frequency lists

Top 50 Chinese Words50 words · free PDF Top 200 Chinese Words200 words · free PDF Top 500 Chinese Words500 words · free PDF Top 50 Chinese Characters50 characters · free PDF Top 100 Chinese Characters100 characters · free PDF Top 200 Chinese Characters200 characters · free PDF Top 500 Chinese Characters500 characters · free PDF

Turn any Chinese text into a worksheet

Paste a lesson, a poem or a news paragraph and print it as Tianzige practice grids with tone-marked pinyin and stroke-order breakdowns — free vector PDF.

Open the worksheet generator All frequency lists