The 208 most common Russian nouns

These are the 208 nouns among the 500 most common Russian 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
24	год	Nouns	year
33	человек	Nouns	person, human being, man
41	время	Nouns	time
64	день	Nouns	day, daytime
68	работа	Nouns	work
73	дело	Nouns	affair, matter, concern
78	жизнь	Nouns	life
83	место	Nouns	place, spot
92	мир	Nouns	peace
99	город	Nouns	city, town
104	область	Nouns	region, oblast, province
106	друг	Nouns	close friend
108	вопрос	Nouns	question
109	страна	Nouns	country
116	ребёнок	Nouns	child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies
120	игра	Nouns	game
121	часть	Nouns	part
126	слово	Nouns	word, term
128	группа	Nouns	group
135	система	Nouns	system
138	вид	Nouns	look, looks, appearance, air
141	история	Nouns	history
142	сторона	Nouns	side, hand, party
143	дом	Nouns	house, building (a residential building)
147	сила	Nouns	strength
150	рука	Nouns	hand
151	результат	Nouns	effect, result, return, outcome
152	случай	Nouns	case
153	деньги	Nouns	money
155	конец	Nouns	end
156	женщина	Nouns	woman
161	число	Nouns	number (cardinal)
162	проблема	Nouns	problem (difficulty)
165	отношение	Nouns	attitude
167	помощь	Nouns	help, assistance, aid
169	час	Nouns	hour, o'clock, time, time of day
170	фильм	Nouns	film, movie
171	школа	Nouns	school
176	война	Nouns	war, warfare
177	книга	Nouns	book
180	центр	Nouns	center, centre
181	лицо	Nouns	face
182	развитие	Nouns	development, growth, progress
183	район	Nouns	district
188	организация	Nouns	organization, arrangement
189	совет	Nouns	advice
192	связь	Nouns	tie, relation, bond, contact
194	команда	Nouns	command, order
195	начал	Nouns	Old Believer prayer
196	данные	Nouns	data
198	компания	Nouns	company (a group of acquaintances)
202	решение	Nouns	decision, solution, answer
214	уровень	Nouns	level, standard, amount
215	язык	Nouns	tongue
219	матч	Nouns	match
220	власть	Nouns	authority, authorities, power
221	закон	Nouns	law
224	образ	Nouns	shape, form
226	программа	Nouns	program/programme
228	партия	Nouns	party (political group)
229	земля	Nouns	earth
230	голова	Nouns	head
233	глаз	Nouns	eye
234	момент	Nouns	moment
237	член	Nouns	limb
238	машина	Nouns	car, motor vehicle
239	сайт	Nouns	website, site
243	мужчина	Nouns	man (male person)
245	вода	Nouns	water
247	состав	Nouns	composition, structure, membership, staff, body
250	качество	Nouns	quality
251	президент	Nouns	president
253	возможность	Nouns	opportunity, chance, potential
256	участие	Nouns	participation, collaboration, complicity
257	месяц	Nouns	month
258	проект	Nouns	project (planned endeavor)
260	семья	Nouns	family
261	цель	Nouns	goal, target, aim, end, object
263	выбор	Nouns	choice (option or decision)
264	сын	Nouns	son
265	неделя	Nouns	week
266	государство	Nouns	State
268	бог	Nouns	God
269	управление	Nouns	administration, direction
273	ночь	Nouns	night, nighttime (period of time from sundown to sunup)
274	помочь	Nouns	belt, tape, or restraint to hold, support
275	действие	Nouns	action, activity
276	суд	Nouns	court
278	клуб	Nouns	cloud, puff (of smoke, etc.)
281	план	Nouns	plan (set of intended actions), scheme
284	путь	Nouns	way, path, road
285	е	Nouns	The Russian name of the Latin script letter E/e
286	отец	Nouns	father
287	количество	Nouns	quantity, number, amount
288	правительство	Nouns	government, administration, cabinet
289	песня	Nouns	song
290	пора	Nouns	time
292	территория	Nouns	territory
295	период	Nouns	period (all senses)
297	девушка	Nouns	girl, lass (from the age of puberty to womanhood)
299	апрель	Nouns	April
301	причина	Nouns	cause (source or reason of an event or action)
303	деятельность	Nouns	activity
304	глава	Nouns	head, top, summit
307	сезон	Nouns	season (quarter of a year)
309	победа	Nouns	victory
310	движение	Nouns	movement, motion, stirring (also social and political)
311	сентябрь	Nouns	September
312	средство	Nouns	means, facility
317	производство	Nouns	production, manufacture
318	главное	Nouns	the main thing, the essentials
320	народ	Nouns	people
321	ряд	Nouns	row, line, tier
325	имя	Nouns	personal name, first name, Christian name
327	автор	Nouns	author
329	мама	Nouns	mama, mummy, mommy, mum, mom (mother)
330	условие	Nouns	condition
331	роль	Nouns	role, part
332	минута	Nouns	minute
333	улица	Nouns	street
336	цена	Nouns	price, cost
339	март	Nouns	March
340	май	Nouns	May
341	рубль	Nouns	ruble
342	образование	Nouns	formation
343	республика	Nouns	republic
344	общество	Nouns	society
345	чемпионат	Nouns	championship
349	см	Nouns	cm, centimeter
351	форма	Nouns	form, shape
355	класс	Nouns	class
358	новость	Nouns	novelty
365	информация	Nouns	information
366	внимание	Nouns	attention
367	любовь	Nouns	love
372	население	Nouns	population, inhabitants
373	состояние	Nouns	state, status, condition
374	создание	Nouns	creation (act of creation)
377	житель	Nouns	inhabitant, resident, occupant, dweller
379	пара	Nouns	pair, couple
381	строительство	Nouns	construction, building
382	брат	Nouns	brother
385	т	Nouns	ton
387	парень	Nouns	fellow, lad, chap, guy, bloke, boy
390	тело	Nouns	body (physical structure of a human or animal)
391	жена	Nouns	wife
392	лучшее	Nouns	something better
393	процесс	Nouns	process
395	порядок	Nouns	order
398	мать	Nouns	mother
400	наука	Nouns	science
405	мера	Nouns	a dry measure approximately equal to one pood of seeds
406	течение	Nouns	current, flow, stream
409	свет	Nouns	light
410	сердце	Nouns	heart
412	душа	Nouns	soul
413	февраль	Nouns	February
414	министр	Nouns	minister (the politician who heads a ministry)
415	культура	Nouns	culture
416	январь	Nouns	January
417	армия	Nouns	army
419	серия	Nouns	series (a number of related things coming in sequence)
420	дорога	Nouns	road
421	годы	Nouns	An unusually long time
423	федерация	Nouns	federation
424	предприятие	Nouns	enterprise, business, undertaking
425	служба	Nouns	service
428	исследование	Nouns	research, study
429	рост	Nouns	growth (in a living organism)
430	борьба	Nouns	struggle, fight, conflict, combat
431	начало	Nouns	beginning, commencement, onset, start
432	здание	Nouns	building, edifice, structure
433	труд	Nouns	work, labor/labour
434	правило	Nouns	rule
437	мнение	Nouns	opinion (person's)
440	союз	Nouns	union
441	ноябрь	Nouns	November
445	встреча	Nouns	meeting, encounter
446	список	Nouns	list, register
447	представитель	Nouns	representative
448	версия	Nouns	version
451	ответ	Nouns	answer, reply, response
452	нога	Nouns	leg
453	август	Nouns	August
454	декабрь	Nouns	December
455	ход	Nouns	motion, movement, travel, progress, locomotion, headway
457	участник	Nouns	participant, participator
459	вещь	Nouns	thing, object
461	материал	Nouns	material
463	счёт	Nouns	count
464	граница	Nouns	border, boundary, bounds, confines, frontier
465	идея	Nouns	idea, thought, notion
467	событие	Nouns	event, occurrence, incident
469	орган	Nouns	organ
470	октябрь	Nouns	October
472	го	Nouns	go (board game)
475	курс	Nouns	course, year (in college, university)
479	операция	Nouns	operation
481	точка	Nouns	period, dot, full stop
482	сборная	Nouns	combined team, national sports team
483	основа	Nouns	basis, foundation, base
484	смысл	Nouns	sense, meaning
486	герой	Nouns	hero
487	сеть	Nouns	net (used for catching fish), mesh
496	июнь	Nouns	June
497	институт	Nouns	institute
498	депутат	Nouns	deputy, assemblyman, delegate
499	край	Nouns	border, edge, brink, brim, fringe

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

The rest of the list

A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsголос · задача · объект · век · ситуация
B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsдни · практически · трудно · ю · сообщить
B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordsолимпиада · кампания · боевик · битва · секунда

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.