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Most Common English Verbs

Name the 60 most common verbs (unconjugated!) in the English language, based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English.

Modal verbs such as would, could, or shall are not included

Conjugations such as swim, swam, and swum are grouped together

Quiz by kalbahamut

Last updated: November 28, 2017

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#	Verb
1	be
2	have
3	do
4	say
5	go
6	get
7	know
8	make
9	think
10	take
11	see
12	come

#	Verb
13	want
14	look
15	use
16	find
17	tell
18	give
19	work
20	call
21	try
22	ask
23	need
24	feel

#	Verb
25	become
26	mean
27	leave
28	let
29	put
30	keep
31	talk
32	turn
33	seem
34	begin
35	help
36	start

#	Verb
37	show
38	hear
39	play
40	run
41	happen
42	like
43	move
44	believe
45	hold
46	live
47	bring
48	write

#	Verb
49	provide
50	sit
51	stand
52	lose
53	include
54	pay
55	meet
56	set
57	continue
58	watch
59	learn
60	change

kalbahamut

level 73

Mar 28, 2014

Some other word-related quizzes y'all may enjoy:

Most Common English Adjectives
More Google Suggestions Than You Can ______
Most Googled Words 2004-2013
Pord Wuzzle

have fun.

plattitude

level 80

Apr 3, 2014

I was really disappointed that sleep wasn't on this list.

Maybe it's because I'm doing this quiz to stay awake near the end of a 40-hour software rollout.

kalbahamut

level 73

Apr 4, 2014

kalbahamut

level 73

Apr 6, 2014

btw QM, I like the thumbnail you picked out. Clever.

Baltimorean

level 69

Apr 7, 2014

The Basic Steel Agreement between the United Steelworkers and the major steelmakers had an Article 2(B), which made all sorts of past practices into contract terms. Which led to the obvious question . . . . Great quiz by the way.

Souljazz

level 44

Apr 9, 2014

I can't believe 'can' is not in there...

ColoHarpare

level 52

May 16, 2014

"Can" is a modal, or what I learned to call a "helping", verb. Usually though not always appears together with a "main" verb. "You can do it" or "She can go tomorrow." When it appears alone, it usually still implies another verb..."Yes, she can (go tomorrow)".

roleybob

level 71

Sep 14, 2018

Don't know whether the clause was there when you posted that but 'modal verbs such as could are not included'

ander217

level 74

Jul 6, 2014

Interesting quiz. Thanks.

MissTaylor133

level 30

Jul 16, 2014

I actually did a lot better thinking about it in French. I can't remember ever learning verbs in English (just what a verb was) so I was like okay there's etre, avoir, aller, faire, parler, and so on. :-)

beetboy12

level 44

Aug 2, 2014

Modal verbs are more like adverbs than verbs, in that they modify another verb. "I can go" means I have the ability to go. "I might go" indicates the probability of my going. "I must go" indicates the imperative nature of my going. They have no verb aspect on their own.

mcgrammar

level 21

Dec 18, 2014

I didn't even think "seem" was a verb until I took the quiz...

kalbahamut

level 73

Dec 18, 2014

Sure it is. That seems to be correct. What else would be the verb in that sentence?

ghanburighan

level 60

Nov 27, 2017

be is the verb

kalbahamut

level 73

Nov 28, 2017

Okay. "That seems odd." This is a correct sentence. Find the verb.

drLuigi

level 45

May 23, 2015

No 'love' :(

Elan

level 58

Jan 13, 2016

I got a lot of these by thinking of the first verbs I learned in Spanish.

choiwoo

level 13

Apr 16, 2016

3 minute 8 seconds left yes

beccimoo

level 59

Jun 13, 2016

And is that your first time doing this quiz?

drakan

level 52

Sep 12, 2016

Funny that "take" is much higher than "give."

kiwiquizzer

level 58

Jan 9, 2017

How long will that take? Take a walk? Take my hand?

someone2018

level 57

Sep 30, 2018

Give me a minute here.

sillie

level 79

Nov 12, 2017

And "work" comes waaaay before "play".

kiwiquizzer

level 58

Jan 9, 2017

Enjoyable quiz. Got 14, but should have got more...

DonTheLamplighter

level 70

Nov 21, 2017

Surprised "lie", "cheat" and "steal" weren't listed. Then I realized this was for verbs that are spoken, not actually done.

WT2008

level 69

Nov 26, 2017

where are "google" and "tweet". The source is called "contemporary" english!

tranagceist

level 59

Nov 27, 2017

Why is "must" included? It's a modal verb

kalbahamut

level 73

Nov 27, 2017

Not sure. QM updated this using a different source I think. I haven't had time to look closely at it.

Quizmaster

level ∞

Nov 27, 2017

My mistake. Now fixed

Cwej

level 57

Nov 27, 2017

Pay. Used more than love, eat, sleep. Says it all, really... :(

Malbaby

level 66

Nov 27, 2017

No Pay..... No Eat....... No Eat, No love.......... No Love, no sleep.

idontkn1

level 74

Nov 27, 2017

"Must" must be removed.

Quizmaster

level ∞

Nov 27, 2017

Fixed

ghanburighan

level 60

Nov 27, 2017

Must and seem are not verbs

lolrobbielol

level 55

Nov 27, 2017

Seem is; must isn't 'That seems fine to me' 'Not as good as they seem'

mightythor

level 63

Nov 27, 2017

What about Palestine?

Quizmaster

level ∞

Dec 14, 2017

The UN voted to kick Taiwan out of the dictionary and grant Palestine observer status ... However, these votes don't reflect the actual situation on the ground.

plattitude

level 80

Jun 25, 2018

We can only hope more people will be granted observer status in the dictionary.

peslac

level 29

Dec 6, 2017

Wow, I missed so many that were quite obvious! At least I got 36 of them.

RambleOnRose

level 52

Jul 6, 2018

After writing about a dozen words down, I started to tune in to the dialogue in "Better Call Saul," which was playing in the other room, and got interested in listening for common verbs. I forgot to think of my own words and just wrote down common verbs that came up in the dialogue -- and ended up with 33, just from a few minutes of dialogue! I guess that was a pretty strong demonstration of how common these words really are :-)