The First 4,000 Words




The First 4,000 Words is simply a list of

the most frequent English Words.

Why These Words Are Important

Together these words account for over 80 percent of the words in virtually any text.

Most students readily learn to read these words over their first few years in school.

Other students do not. Those that do not need learn them as quickly as possible in order to avoid repeatedly stumbling as they are reading.

Downloads

These four slides show a short passage from a fifth-grade informational text and the words that a child could read if he of she could read the first 500, 1000, 2000, or 4000 most frequent words.

The Power of These 4,000 Words (pdf)

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The 4,000 Words

  

The First 4,000 Words project was supported by a U.S. Department of Education/Institute of Education Sciences’ grant awarded to Gregory Sales of Seward Incorporated (R305C050059)

The 4,000 Most Frequent English Words (pdf)

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Contact

For further information about The First 4,000 Words or if you have problems downloading the list, please contact Michael Graves at mgraves.umn.edu.