The 172 most common Spanish nouns

These are the 172 nouns among the 500 most common Spanish 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
29	el poder	Nouns	power (the ability to coerce, influence or control)
46	el año	Nouns	year
51	el son	Nouns	tone (pleasant sound)
58	el día	Nouns	day (any period of 24 hours)
77	la parte	Nouns	part; section; portion; share; piece; bit; cut
78	el tiempo	Nouns	time
80	la vez	Nouns	time, instance
84	el estado	Nouns	country, land (any broad area or territory)
85	la persona	Nouns	person (an individual; usually a human being)
87	la cosa	Nouns	thing (object, concept)
94	la vida	Nouns	life
103	el país	Nouns	country (the territory of a nation)
107	la gente	Nouns	people
110	el mundo	Nouns	world, earth (human collective existence)
114	la gracia	Nouns	grace, charm
116	el lugar	Nouns	place
118	el trabajo	Nouns	work, job
121	la forma	Nouns	shape; form; figure
122	la cuenta	Nouns	count, tally
125	el caso	Nouns	case (situation or fact)
127	la mujer	Nouns	woman
132	el hombre	Nouns	man, (adult male human)
140	el hecho	Nouns	act, deed
144	la ciudad	Nouns	city
146	el momento	Nouns	moment, instant
150	el paso	Nouns	step, footstep
151	el problema	Nouns	problem, issue
152	el amigo	Nouns	friend
155	la hora	Nouns	hour (a time period of sixty minutes)
164	el santo	Nouns	male saint
166	el partido	Nouns	party
169	el grupo	Nouns	group
173	la historia	Nouns	history (the aggregate of past events)
178	el público	Nouns	public
180	la mi	Nouns	mu; the Greek letter Μ, μ
181	la ley	Nouns	law (a well-established characteristic of nature)
183	la verdad	Nouns	truth
187	el hijo	Nouns	son
190	el punto	Nouns	point (specific spot, location, or place)
194	el mes	Nouns	month
195	el segundo	Nouns	second (unit of time)
198	la madre	Nouns	mother
203	la manera	Nouns	way; manner; method; style
204	el sistema	Nouns	system
208	el dios	Nouns	god
214	la semana	Nouns	week (7 days)
216	la familia	Nouns	family (group of people related to each other)
218	el niño	Nouns	child, boy
219	la mano	Nouns	hand
222	el pueblo	Nouns	town, village
223	el servicio	Nouns	service
225	la foto	Nouns	photo, photograph
229	el equipo	Nouns	team
231	el lado	Nouns	side
237	la palabra	Nouns	word
239	el tema	Nouns	theme; plot (of a book, film or other media)
248	el juego	Nouns	play
249	el cambio	Nouns	change, shift
251	la empresa	Nouns	company
255	el número	Nouns	number (counting)
264	el video	Nouns	VHS player, videocassette recorder, VCR
265	el centro	Nouns	center
266	la guerra	Nouns	war, warfare
268	el ejemplo	Nouns	example
269	el señor	Nouns	mister, sir
270	el millón	Nouns	million (10⁶)
274	el artículo	Nouns	article
275	la obra	Nouns	work (usually literary or artistic)
279	la razón	Nouns	reason
281	la información	Nouns	information, data
285	la agua	Nouns	water
289	el real	Nouns	real (unit of currency)
290	el favor	Nouns	favor/favour
293	el programa	Nouns	programme, program
296	el nivel	Nouns	level, tier
297	el embargo	Nouns	trade embargo
300	el hermano	Nouns	brother
301	el dinero	Nouns	money
304	la relación	Nouns	relation
307	la tierra	Nouns	Earth
309	la fuerza	Nouns	force
310	la muerte	Nouns	death (the cessation of life)
313	la falta	Nouns	lack, shortage
320	la sociedad	Nouns	society, social order
321	la zona	Nouns	zone, district, area
323	la realidad	Nouns	reality
324	el resultado	Nouns	result, outcome, finding, upshot
326	el través	Nouns	bend, turn
327	la universidad	Nouns	university, (US) college
330	el amor	Nouns	love
331	el cuerpo	Nouns	body (the physical structure of a human or animal)
334	la calle	Nouns	street
335	el frente	Nouns	front
337	la situación	Nouns	situation, scenario, picture
338	el uso	Nouns	use
343	el puesto	Nouns	position, employment, job
344	el proceso	Nouns	process
346	el ojo	Nouns	eye
348	la imagen	Nouns	image
349	el personal	Nouns	personnel, staff
351	la acción	Nouns	action, act, deed (something done)
352	la escuela	Nouns	school
353	la orden	Nouns	order (command)
356	el oficial	Nouns	officer, official
357	la cabeza	Nouns	head
358	el precio	Nouns	price
359	la línea	Nouns	line (a straight path through two or more points)
360	la base	Nouns	basis
361	el sitio	Nouns	site, place
369	la mayoría	Nouns	majority
370	la ayuda	Nouns	help, aid
371	el padre	Nouns	father, parent
372	la seguridad	Nouns	safety, security
374	la policía	Nouns	Civility, polity, public order, police, fineness
376	la lista	Nouns	list, roll
377	la actividad	Nouns	activity (state of being active)
379	el principio	Nouns	principle
380	la elección	Nouns	election
381	el sentido	Nouns	sense (faculties of perception)
384	la película	Nouns	film (layer)
385	la noticia	Nouns	notice
386	el minuto	Nouns	minute (a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or ¹⁄₆₀ hour)
389	la red	Nouns	web, mesh
392	el camino	Nouns	way, route
393	el rey	Nouns	king
395	la medida	Nouns	measurement; measure, gauge
396	el miembro	Nouns	limb (a major appendage of a person or animal)
399	el aire	Nouns	air (the substance constituting earth's atmosphere)
401	el solar	Nouns	ground, land
402	el plan	Nouns	scheme (systematic plan of future action)
408	la cara	Nouns	face (the front part of the head)
411	el papá	Nouns	dad
412	el valor	Nouns	value (all senses)
413	el datos	Nouns	data
414	la educación	Nouns	education
417	la luz	Nouns	light
418	la prueba	Nouns	proof; evidence (usually in the plural)
420	el local	Nouns	premises, rooms
422	la clase	Nouns	lecture
428	la página	Nouns	page
431	el futuro	Nouns	future (the time ahead)
432	el campo	Nouns	countryside, country
433	el cargo	Nouns	charge, burden
435	la comunidad	Nouns	community
437	el web	Nouns	web (Internet)
438	el interés	Nouns	interest (a fraction of the amount of what was borrowed)
443	la población	Nouns	population (of a geographical region, a country, etc.)
445	la región	Nouns	region
446	el movimiento	Nouns	movement (physical motion between points in space)
447	la serie	Nouns	series (a number of things that follow one another)
449	el medios	Nouns	media, mass media as a whole
451	el militar	Nouns	soldier
454	la respuesta	Nouns	reply, response, answer
455	la cultura	Nouns	culture
458	la organización	Nouns	organization
460	la voz	Nouns	voice
461	la paz	Nouns	peace (warlessness)
470	la fuente	Nouns	spring (water), fountain
471	el producto	Nouns	product, commodity, item
472	la investigación	Nouns	investigation
474	la duda	Nouns	doubt
480	el modo	Nouns	way, manner
484	el objetivo	Nouns	objective
486	la atención	Nouns	attention
489	la oportunidad	Nouns	opportunity, chance, shot, break, occasion
490	el consejo	Nouns	advice, counsel, piece of advice
491	la condición	Nouns	condition
492	el mensaje	Nouns	message
496	el julio	Nouns	July
497	el respecto	Nouns	respect, regard, connection, relation, relationship
498	el miedo	Nouns	fear
499	la canción	Nouns	song

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

The rest of the list

A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsanterior · experiencia · control · suerte · espacio
B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsfrío · representante · aprobar · escrito · jamás
B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordsclima · derrotar · fase · introducir · posterior

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.