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Most Common English Verbs - Extreme

How many of the 250 most common verbs in the English language can you name?
Modal verbs such as would, could, or shall are not included
Conjugations such as swim, swam, and swum are grouped together
Based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: December 19, 2017
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First submittedDecember 19, 2017
Times taken134,880
Average score28.4%
Rating4.95
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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
13
want
14
look
15
use
16
find
17
tell
18
give
19
work
20
call
21
try
22
ask
23
need
24
feel
25
become
26
mean
27
leave
28
let
29
put
30
keep
31
talk
32
turn
33
seem
34
begin
35
help
36
start
37
show
38
hear
39
play
40
run
41
happen
42
like
43
move
44
believe
45
hold
46
live
47
bring
48
write
49
provide
50
sit
#
verb
51
stand
52
lose
53
include
54
pay
55
meet
56
set
57
continue
58
watch
59
learn
60
change
61
lead
62
stop
63
understand
64
follow
65
create
66
add
67
speak
68
allow
69
spend
70
read
71
walk
72
open
73
win
74
grow
75
remember
76
offer
77
love
78
wait
79
consider
80
buy
81
appear
82
serve
83
die
84
stay
85
fall
86
build
87
send
88
cut
89
expect
90
kill
91
suggest
92
reach
93
remain
94
require
95
thank
96
report
97
sell
98
pull
99
raise
100
pass
#
verb
101
develop
102
decide
103
return
104
hope
105
explain
106
join
107
drive
108
receive
109
carry
110
break
111
wear
112
pick
113
agree
114
support
115
base
116
produce
117
hit
118
eat
119
end
120
teach
121
describe
122
face
123
cover
124
catch
125
draw
126
listen
127
cause
128
choose
129
point
130
realize
131
place
132
close
133
increase
134
involve
135
represent
136
seek
137
throw
138
deal
139
focus
140
reduce
141
note
142
fill
143
fight
144
drop
145
push
146
plan
147
enter
148
share
149
rise
150
identify
#
verb
151
indicate
152
shoot
153
occur
154
determine
155
save
156
lie
157
argue
158
wonder
159
protect
160
recognize
161
accept
162
present
163
lay
164
prepare
165
laugh
166
compare
167
guess
168
state
169
answer
170
fail
171
arrive
172
name
173
discuss
174
hang
175
miss
176
design
177
establish
178
check
179
act
180
forget
181
sound
182
shake
183
force
184
study
185
remove
186
form
187
prove
188
claim
189
enjoy
190
maintain
191
imagine
192
finish
193
care
194
visit
195
avoid
196
reveal
197
contain
198
apply
199
respond
200
control
#
verb
201
perform
202
head
203
affect
204
smile
205
fly
206
reflect
207
manage
208
discover
209
treat
210
improve
211
worry
212
mention
213
address
214
sign
215
step
216
exist
217
stare
218
relate
219
notice
220
test
221
sing
222
tend
223
beat
224
wish
225
prevent
226
figure
227
assume
228
examine
229
travel
230
born
231
vote
232
achieve
233
admit
234
publish
235
cost
236
conduct
237
sleep
238
touch
239
suffer
240
own
241
hurt
242
recall
243
refer
244
release
245
experience
246
define
247
attend
248
encourage
249
announce
250
strike
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89 Comments
KoljiVriVoda
+7
Level 78
Dec 19, 2017
Are there any two-word verbs in English language that can be considered as most common, like give up, break down etc? I am curious because I do not know is GIVE UP a verb or just GIVE whithout UP.
chondrichthyess
+26
Level 61
Dec 20, 2017
Those are technically called Phrasal Verbs. I suppose those don't count here for simplicity. The whole phrase is the "verb" or semantic unit, even though one of the words (such as "give") can be a verb in its own right.
KoljiVriVoda
+2
Level 78
Dec 21, 2017
Thanks :)
Wolfonator
+13
Level 81
Dec 20, 2017
very much fun! Only in the last minute I tried the words written above the quiz like enter, answer, name, include and base. Did not lead me to want and work though.
chondrichthyess
+17
Level 61
Dec 20, 2017
People are pretty brutal. In the top 250: beat strike shoot hang cut force fight hurt suffer kill die
mightythor
+78
Level 66
Jan 8, 2018
Maybe people are:

Beating the odds

Striking up bargains

Shooting pictures

Hanging out

Cutting some slack

Forcing compromises

Fighting to win

Hurting so good

Suffering succotash

Killing it (as in doing really well)

Dying of laughter

Dollyfroggy
+3
Level 63
May 16, 2023
To be fair, "Hanging out" might be the most common cause of that word.
ander217
+8
Level 75
Apr 11, 2018
Don't forget love is on here, and as John Lennon wrote, "Love is all you need."
NQChien
+8
Level 67
Aug 14, 2018
Yes, why not cook drink bathe breathe plant grow instead?
RudeDog
+1
Level 60
Jul 27, 2020
Its "American English" ;)
IsleAuHaulte
+6
Level 90
Dec 17, 2022
In that case, eat and order would be on here, but not cook.
TheQuizzler
+4
Level 64
Sep 20, 2024
There should be a verb that means "to engage in performative, public criticism of others due to a wholly false belief in oneself to be morally and intellectually superior as a sad attempt assuage ones own desperate insecurity". Perhaps it could be called "to European".
WT2008
+5
Level 77
Dec 21, 2017
It says it is based on "contemporary English" yet the verbs google, tweet, text etc are not in the top 250?
JackintheBox
+12
Level 81
Nov 11, 2019
Because they are not amongst the commonest 250 verbs used in English.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
May 16, 2023
WT2008 is probably joking.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
Oct 10, 2023
...and so are you. Never mind.
elijahwade
+25
Level 96
Dec 23, 2017
Excellent and challenging quiz. Just a wee suggest: I know that the description specifies that this is based on American English, but would it be possible to add anglicised versions as acceptable answers (such as 'realise' and 'recognise')?
crystaleagle
+16
Level 66
Nov 14, 2018
Yes, I agree with this. I tried both and it didn't occur to me to put a z in there. I just thought they weren't there.
mightythor
+25
Level 66
Jan 8, 2018
The present tense of "born" is "bear". It should be accepted (and should be the actual answer).
KabouterPlop
+4
Level 71
Aug 29, 2022
Exactly.

You don't say "I am not able to born children".

If no other past form or past participle is accepted then neither should be "born".

IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 90
Dec 17, 2022
Still?

I too thought of born as a possible answer, knew the present tense is bear and tried bear which didn't work.

panscedar
+3
Level 68
Jan 14, 2018
Great quiz. Very challenging.
dogla305
+13
Level 62
Apr 10, 2018
You guys feel like an idiot as well when time runs out and you read the verbs you missed? :/

take, come, use, tell, try....

akjlddkjslfsd
+1
Level 50
May 17, 2021
yes I can relate
MaxTheAxe
+1
Level 75
Mar 22, 2022
Look, come. use, know..

I also like to look at the words I got that were low percentage gets like Test, worry, forgive

KiloNova
+1
Level 56
May 3, 2023
what about grab?
JackBeNimble
+3
Level 82
Apr 10, 2018
Did anyone else read some of the ones they missed and think, "I was sure I'd put that in already!"?
moxierose
+1
Level 20
Apr 10, 2025
Absolutely. I verified this by writing down some of the ones I guessed, and seeing them populate in red afterward. Something is glitching!
growltiger
+21
Level 34
Apr 10, 2018
Odd that 'drink' is not there
JudgeRudy
+12
Level 67
Apr 10, 2018
I was thinking the same thing. There is no way that conduct, establish, mention, publish, etc. are more common than drink.
ander217
+1
Level 75
Apr 11, 2018
+2
NQChien
+4
Level 67
Oct 2, 2018
Yes, why common words like drink, wake, brush, clean, repair, ride etc. not in this list? Those guys preparing this list must have been sitting at the office desk.
MasterKenobi
+5
Level 62
May 17, 2021
Biggest surprise for me was shut. I must've heard "shut up" in its various forms, as well as "shut the door," "shut the fridge," "shut out," etc. hundreds of thousands of times growing up. But it didn't make it into the top 250 while words I've heard only a handful of times did.
jsmacd95
+8
Level 66
Apr 10, 2018
Scored 120. Was trying to listen to my song lyrics carefully in case there was some I couldn't think of lol
JWatson24
+4
Level 71
May 17, 2021
I did that too--probably like 80% of the answers I came up with I only got because I thought of song lyrics in my head :)
Randomicity912
+18
Level 58
Apr 11, 2018
I get that this is based on an American listing, but you should probably have the British-English spellings of words (where the British and America spellings differ), because I guessed some of them only to think them wrong because I'm British and spelled them 'correctly' only for them not to count. I kind of feel a little bit dirty typing in the American spellings.
JackintheBox
+2
Level 81
Nov 11, 2019
Examples of British spellings not accepted?
akjlddkjslfsd
+8
Level 50
May 17, 2021
recognize (NA) - recognise (UK)

realize (NA) - realise (UK)

akjlddkjslfsd
+1
Level 50
May 17, 2021
but how come you currently live in the States
TheQuizzler
+1
Level 64
Sep 20, 2024
You're on an American site taking a quiz specifically about American English. No, you did not type the "correct" spelling in.
pharris610
+2
Level 52
Apr 12, 2018
Is 'will' classified as a modal verb? I can will something into existence, or will my belongings to a relative.
stylus
+4
Level 78
Mar 9, 2020
not common enough as a normal verb though i imagine...
Margles1
+2
Level 41
May 28, 2018
I would have thought that “wake” would be there.
WillemLAif
+4
Level 76
Sep 5, 2018
I was waiting to see some words that are heard pretty often, but guess this is a clean version. Also, legal and religious verbs are somewhat surprisingly missing... And everybody seems to just eat and enter, but no one drinks or exits.
Olober
+1
Level 57
Dec 29, 2018
What religious verbs would there be that are commonly used? I can only really think of two off the top of my head (pray & worship) but those are very rarely heard where I'm from at least
Sifhraven
+2
Level 73
Jun 5, 2019
pray could be a regular one, I pray to god that... (wether you are religious or not, just like thank god. It is something some people use often in their speech) Or many other phrases where people say pray instead of hope. Like I pray I did alright on my exams.
Djilas
+2
Level 84
Nov 12, 2019
The corpus is most likely from written samples, so some very common spoken verbs are missing, not just F...
lottoid
+3
Level 90
Jul 21, 2018
excellent quiz
Sifhraven
+1
Level 73
Jun 5, 2019
I did 95, not bad at all :)

Though interesting how a lot of times, the opposite of certain words arent there.

JackintheBox
+1
Level 81
Nov 11, 2019
The verb with the lowest percentage I got was 'define' (9%); the verb with the highest percentage I did not get was 'buy' (61%). Got 109 overall.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
May 16, 2023
My lowest was recall (11%) and my highest was sit (62%).
DIALKIA
+1
Level 72
Aug 26, 2023
I also got 109 lol. My lowest was "figure" with 9% and my highest I didn't get was "have" with 71%.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
Oct 10, 2023
I also missed "have" this time (still at 71%). My lowest were recall and reveal (10%).
SportsFan14
+4
Level 28
Dec 31, 2019
I actually tried "Yeet"
akjlddkjslfsd
+1
Level 50
May 17, 2021
I think that is what's called an "interjection" and not a verb (correct me if it's wrong because I could not find "yeet" in the dictionary)
Weslet
+14
Level 58
May 18, 2021
You should yeet that dictionary out your window then
akjlddkjslfsd
+1
Level 50
May 18, 2021
lol
IsleAuHaulte
+1
Level 90
Feb 1, 2020
With much appreciated thanks to the handy dandy new quiz statistics feature I see this is the 4th time I've done this quiz.

It's the 4th time I've rolled my eyes going down the list of words I'll use many times today and couldn't think of in 20 whole, desperate minutes.

akjlddkjslfsd
+6
Level 50
May 17, 2021
it is nearly impossible to get every word correct as an average of just 4.8 seconds of thinking time + typing time is allotted to each word
mapjunkie95
+2
Level 40
May 26, 2020
I got a surprising ammout by going through the lyrics of "Handlebars" by flobot in my head.
Tomtrific
+3
Level 82
May 27, 2020
"Count" is not there. Seems like it would be before some of the others on the list.
RealBillGates
+3
Level 77
Aug 26, 2020
Challenge: listen to various songs and you can only use words you hear
dsaved
+2
Level 69
Sep 2, 2020
Love these quizzes, I wonder how "have" is only the 8th most guessed verb.
akjlddkjslfsd
+2
Level 50
May 17, 2021
many people CAN think of and use a lot of verbs but something strange just happens to them as soon as the quiz's clock starts ticking
Angbo
+1
Level 66
Apr 29, 2021
Can I type-in patent tense?
Werifesteria
+2
Level 66
May 17, 2021
the word "can" isn't in there, which seems like a mistake
akjlddkjslfsd
+4
Level 50
May 17, 2021
"can" is a modal verb, which is not included as mentioned in one of the caveats
akjlddkjslfsd
+2
Level 50
May 17, 2021
I thought "am", "is", "are" etc. were acceptable for "be"
ouishdvoojaf
+1
Level 28
May 18, 2021
Those are all included under the verb to be - see insructions
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
Oct 10, 2023
Their comment is asking why those aren't accepted for "to be".
jenwithrelish
+3
Level 43
May 17, 2021
Love this quiz! The100 Most Common Words in the English Language has been in my top 5 favorite list for years now! I retake very so often and it's always challenging.

Thanks Quizmaster!

ouishdvoojaf
+1
Level 28
May 18, 2021
I started singing songs to help bring up some ideas!
Mfundo
+3
Level 35
May 18, 2021
Stop and end are there where is "pause"?
i3enjji
+3
Level 39
May 22, 2021
as a brit, i promise you i, and the majority of the population use wank/wanked/wanks/more than bloody annouce
Froststar101
+2
Level 73
Nov 30, 2021
Getting 98 hurts. 1 shy of getting into that 75th percentile and getting the 4th point. Hopefully some more people will take this quiz and bring the average down.
Bletsch
+2
Level 70
Jul 30, 2022
Jolly fun! I wish I could find the website that I used to look at a few years ago...it had tens of thousands of English words, ranked in order from most to least common. It was fun to type in a word and find out just how obscure it was!
LucasFaquer
+3
Level 21
Aug 10, 2022
DAMN!!!! I only got 59, when i saw the answers i felt pretty stupid... but I think I have an excuse - i'm brazilian.
BrendaL
+1
Level 28
Oct 29, 2022
So many verbs that I use regularly aren't on the list. Made me wonder if I misunderstood the quiz instructions.
bert64
+2
Level 65
Jan 21, 2023
Fascinating quiz. I have taken this 42 times now, and I seem to plateau around 160 at the moment. However, I get different verbs every time. There's only six words I have never guessed (and one of them is "born", which is an obvious error and should be fixed).
IsleAuHaulte
+3
Level 90
Feb 5, 2023
I must stare in bewilderment at one answer with 16%.
Dollyfroggy
+2
Level 63
Oct 10, 2023
You'll have to accept that it makes the list.
marjobro
+3
Level 67
Mar 21, 2023
Believe it or not, several years ago, when I was more or less trapped at home, I memorized the list and made 248. There's plenty of time. I'm a very slow typist. Today I was only able to get 145.....It would be SO much easier if the answers showed up alphabetically.

I agree with many of the comments that there are some inexplicable omissions: drink, cook....As a piano teacher I find it interesting that perform is here, but not practice. You can't have one without the other!

KiloNova
+1
Level 56
May 3, 2023
cool
AbiA
+1
Level 86
Oct 15, 2023
Practice is a noun. The verb is practise.
marjobro
+4
Level 67
Mar 11, 2024
"In American English, practice may function as a noun or a verb. Regardless of its role in the sentence, the correct spelling is always practice with a C."

Practice or Practise–Which Spelling Is Right? | Grammarly

www.grammarly.com/blog/practice-practise/

Dollyfroggy
+4
Level 63
Oct 10, 2023
Anyone else feel like they were writing a story as they took the quiz?
QuizPuppet
+1
Level 24
Oct 28, 2024
How wasn't "to can" a part of this?
octopus72
+1
Level 68
Feb 22, 2025
Modal verb
Pharley
+1
Level 74
Nov 19, 2024
"Based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English" - shouldn't a quiz on the English language be based on English English?
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