The 186 most common French nouns

These are the 186 nouns among the 500 most common French words, in the order a corpus of everyday writing says you will meet them.

Meanings are given in English on this page. In the app they appear in your own language, translated on your device.

#	Word	Type	Meaning
73	le an	Nouns	year
81	le petit	Nouns	small one (anything that is small)
82	le temps	Nouns	time (in general)
83	le jour	Nouns	day
89	le monde	Nouns	world
95	la année	Nouns	year (period)
104	la vie	Nouns	life
105	le homme	Nouns	man (adult male human)
107	la chose	Nouns	thing
122	la femme	Nouns	woman
130	le gens	Nouns	set of people
132	le pays	Nouns	land; region; home ground; homeland; home country
135	la partie	Nouns	part (portion, amount)
137	le état	Nouns	state, condition
140	la bonne	Nouns	maid
141	la ville	Nouns	town, city
142	le point	Nouns	point (small mark)
145	la politique	Nouns	politics
151	le pari	Nouns	wager, bet
155	le enfant	Nouns	child (someone who is not yet an adult)
156	la place	Nouns	place, square, plaza, piazza
158	le moment	Nouns	moment (point in time)
159	le cas	Nouns	case, situation
163	la heure	Nouns	hour, time
166	la histoire	Nouns	story
168	la première	Nouns	premiere, première
172	la question	Nouns	issue, matter, topic, problem
173	le jeu	Nouns	game (activity performed for amusement)
179	le lieu	Nouns	place
184	le nom	Nouns	name
185	le mois	Nouns	month
187	la part	Nouns	share
189	le service	Nouns	cutlery
190	le groupe	Nouns	group
192	le travail	Nouns	work; labor
193	le reste	Nouns	rest, remainder
195	le coup	Nouns	sound of the action
196	la merci	Nouns	mercy
200	le cours	Nouns	stream of water, river
205	la famille	Nouns	family (group of related people)
208	la semaine	Nouns	week
209	la raison	Nouns	reason (cause)
211	le prix	Nouns	prize
214	la société	Nouns	company, frequentation
217	le problème	Nouns	problem
218	la fille	Nouns	girl
219	le besoin	Nouns	need
222	le effet	Nouns	effect
223	la équipe	Nouns	team
224	la tête	Nouns	head (part of the body)
225	la demande	Nouns	request (act of requesting)
229	la porte	Nouns	door
230	le site	Nouns	website
231	le long	Nouns	length
232	le article	Nouns	article (a piece of nonfictional writing)
238	la suite	Nouns	result
239	la idée	Nouns	idea
242	la loi	Nouns	law (legal code)
245	la passe	Nouns	pass (the act of passing)
248	la eau	Nouns	water, a liquid that is transparent, colorless
251	le projet	Nouns	project
256	la main	Nouns	hand
257	la ligne	Nouns	line
258	le sens	Nouns	meaning, sense
260	le rapport	Nouns	ratio
261	le film	Nouns	movie, film
263	le mot	Nouns	word
267	le nombre	Nouns	number
268	le jean	Nouns	a pair of jeans
269	la entreprise	Nouns	company, business
271	le ami	Nouns	friend (one who is affectionately attached to another)
278	la mère	Nouns	mother
281	le système	Nouns	system (various meanings)
285	le niveau	Nouns	level (general)
286	le conseil	Nouns	piece of advice
287	le président	Nouns	president
291	le père	Nouns	father (parent)
294	le gouvernement	Nouns	government
295	la guerre	Nouns	war
296	le exemple	Nouns	example
302	le centre	Nouns	centre, center
303	le accord	Nouns	chord
305	le parti	Nouns	party
306	la livre	Nouns	metrical pound, half a kilogramme, 500 g
307	la forme	Nouns	shape (geometrical representation)
308	le possible	Nouns	the possible, feasible, what can be done, achieved etc
309	le tour	Nouns	turn, circumference
311	le dieu	Nouns	a god, male divinity
312	le titre	Nouns	heading, title (name of a piece of work)
313	le début	Nouns	start, beginning
315	la face	Nouns	surface, side
317	le truc	Nouns	procedure, technique
318	le chef	Nouns	head
321	le blanc	Nouns	white (color)
323	la façon	Nouns	way; manner; fashion
324	le meilleur	Nouns	best
327	la école	Nouns	school
328	le type	Nouns	type; sort, kind
329	le plan	Nouns	map (schematic maps of streets, subways, etc.)
331	la terre	Nouns	earth; soil
332	le air	Nouns	air (gases of the atmosphere)
336	le fils	Nouns	son
338	le membre	Nouns	member (of a group or organization)
339	la minute	Nouns	minute (etymology 1, time unit, all same senses)
340	le sujet	Nouns	subject (in a monarchy)
342	le œil	Nouns	eye, organ that is sensitive to light
343	le but	Nouns	aim
344	la étude	Nouns	study (act of studying or examining)
346	le match	Nouns	match, game
348	la mise	Nouns	placement; (act of) putting
349	le résultat	Nouns	outcome; result
350	la région	Nouns	region; area
355	le ordre	Nouns	order (way in which things are arranged)
357	le argent	Nouns	silver
358	la saison	Nouns	season
359	la vue	Nouns	sight (something seen)
362	la situation	Nouns	situation (all meanings)
363	la information	Nouns	piece of information]
365	la base	Nouns	base (bottom part of something)
366	la journée	Nouns	day
367	la action	Nouns	action, act, deed
369	la rue	Nouns	street, road
373	le corps	Nouns	body
376	le second	Nouns	assistant, first mate
380	la série	Nouns	series
381	le ministre	Nouns	minister
384	le frère	Nouns	brother (son of the same parents as another person)
386	le matin	Nouns	morning
388	le retour	Nouns	return
390	la pierre	Nouns	stone (substance)
391	le terme	Nouns	terms (conditions)
395	le mec	Nouns	guy, fellow, bloke, chap, dude, boyfriend
398	le amour	Nouns	love
399	la voiture	Nouns	car (wagon)
402	le choix	Nouns	choice
405	le vieux	Nouns	old person
406	la pièce	Nouns	room in a house, etc
408	la chambre	Nouns	a room
409	la activité	Nouns	activity
410	le nord	Nouns	north
413	la valeur	Nouns	value, worth
415	la image	Nouns	picture, image
416	la grâce	Nouns	grace, charm
417	le principal	Nouns	someone or something which is important, key
418	la musique	Nouns	music
420	le poing	Nouns	fist
422	le roi	Nouns	king
424	le pied	Nouns	foot
426	le intérêt	Nouns	interest (great attention and concern from someone)
429	le mars	Nouns	March (month)
432	le auteur	Nouns	author
435	la source	Nouns	source, spring (of water)
436	le programme	Nouns	a program (set of structured activities)
437	le prêt	Nouns	loan
441	le réseau	Nouns	network
443	le sud	Nouns	south
446	le emploi	Nouns	job
449	le train	Nouns	train (rail mounted vehicle)
450	la nationale	Nouns	a french National Highway
451	la peine	Nouns	punishment
452	le siècle	Nouns	century (period of 100 years)
453	la population	Nouns	the public
454	la rencontre	Nouns	encounter
456	la route	Nouns	road (sometimes route like "Route 66")
457	le parent	Nouns	relative, relation, family member
458	le étranger	Nouns	foreigner
460	la condition	Nouns	term, condition
461	le objet	Nouns	thing, object
462	la classe	Nouns	class, type, group
464	le lien	Nouns	tie, bond
465	la peur	Nouns	fear
469	la police	Nouns	cop (police officer)
470	la chance	Nouns	luck
471	la époque	Nouns	epoch
473	le mouvement	Nouns	movement
475	la sécurité	Nouns	security, safety
477	le juin	Nouns	June
479	le mai	Nouns	May (month)
480	le septembre	Nouns	September
481	la langue	Nouns	tongue
485	la culture	Nouns	farming, cultivation, crop growing
487	le texte	Nouns	text (piece of writing)
491	le milieu	Nouns	middle; center
494	la fonction	Nouns	function (what something does or is used for)
495	le développement	Nouns	development
496	le local	Nouns	room

All 500 A1 words are on this page, free, with no sign-up.

The rest of the list

A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsrisquer · santé · voix · feu · relation
B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsvéritable · comité · vacance · ouverture · document
B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordspape · relatif · monnaie · présenté · manifester

A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, in the app, where you can also send any word straight into spaced review and meet it again on the day you are about to forget it.

Where this comes from

The order is measured: it comes from how often each word appears in a large corpus, counted across all the forms of a word rather than each form separately, so a verb is ranked where you really meet it. The band edges are a convention rather than a measurement. Nothing says word 501 is harder than word 500; the levels are cut where established graded reader series cut theirs.

wordfreq 3.1 (frequency order) + en.wiktionary via kaikki.org (part of speech, gender, gloss). Corpus read on 2026-09-16.

Questions

Where does the order come from?

From how often each word appears in a large corpus of everyday writing. Frequency is counted across all the forms of a word and attributed to the dictionary form, so a verb is ranked where a reader really meets it rather than being spread thinly over a dozen endings.

Why are these lists shorter than the ones with 5,000 or 10,000 words?

Because past about 2,500 a frequency rank stops meaning much. Rank 6,000 in a web corpus is not a harder word, it is a word that happens to be common in journalism. Established graded reader series top out near 2,500 headwords for the same reason.

Is every word in the list a real dictionary word?

Yes. Every headword is checked against the language's own Wiktionary entry, which is where the part of speech, the gender and the meaning come from. That check is what removes the proper nouns, single letters and corpus noise that raw frequency lists are full of.

Do I need the app?

Not for this page. The A1 list is free here and free in the app. A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, and the app is also where a word can go from a list into a review queue, which is the part a page cannot do.

Has a native speaker checked these?

Not yet. The frequency order and the part of speech are mechanical, and the meanings come from a dictionary rather than being written by hand, but nothing here has been through native review. If you spot a meaning that is technically right and practically useless, we would like to hear about it.