Collins COBUILD English Dictionary Frequently Wordlist
Collins COBUILD English Dictionary Frequently Wordlist
Collins COBUILD English Dictionary for Advanced Learner's pp.1316-pp.1322
Wordlist
Throughout the dictionary, entries are given markers to indicate how frequently words occur in the language. For example, at the entry for say, you will see the marker ◆◆◆◆◆ in the extra column. This means that the word say is one of the most frequent words in the English language. (Note that the entry for say covers the forms says, saying, and said as well, and that the ◆◆◆◆◆ is an indication of frequency for all these forms taken together.)
The markers are on a scale from 1 to 5, (◆◆◆◆◆ for the most frequent words, ◆◇◇◇◇ for less frequent words.) About half the entries in the dictionary have no frequency markers.
◆◆◆◆◆
Entries in this band are the most frequent words - the ‘grammar’ words, such as of, the, as, and so on, as well as very frequent vocabulary items such as seem, arm, and interest.
There are nearly 700 entries in this band, representing over 1,500 different forms.
◆◆◆◆◇
In the next band of just over 1,000 entries are words such as arrive, measure, and promise. These account for a total of nearly 2,500 forms, and together with the top band, represent 75% of all English usage. These two bands, then, represent the essential core of English.
◆◆◆◇◇, ◆◆◇◇◇
The next two bands, (3 black diamonds and 2 black diamonds) cover a further 4,400 entries. These words will extend the range of topics which you can talk about, but you will read them or hear them rather less often than the words in the top two bands.
◆◇◇◇◇
Entries with one black diamond or with no diamonds at all are still important, but some might be slightly restricted in their contexts of use, while others might be rather literary or specialized.
The following lists contain the headwords that are represented in each of the top three frequency bands. There are over 3,000 entries, and taken with their inflected forms and derived words, they account for nearly 10,000 forms
◆◆◆◆◆
