The 100 Most Common Hebrew Words

These are the 100 most common Hebrew words, ranked by how often they appear in real Hebrew text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	של	shel	of
2	את	et	(object marker)
3	אני	ah-NEE	I
4	הוא	hoo	he
5	זה	zeh	it
6	לא	loh	no
7	על	ahl	on
8	אתה	ah-TAH	you
9	מה	mah	what
10	יש	yesh	there is (exists)
11	עם	eem	with
12	היא	hee	she
13	אנחנו	ah-NAKH-noo	we
14	כל	kohl	every
15	היה	hah-YAH	was
16	אבל	ah-VAHL	but
17	גם	gahm	also
18	או	oh	or
19	כי	kee	because
20	רק	rahk	only
21	עוד	ohd	more
22	מי	mee	who
23	כמו	kuh-MOH	like
24	שנה	shah-NAH	year
25	זמן	zuh-MAHN	time
26	יום	yohm	day
27	טוב	tohv	good
28	גדול	gah-DOHL	great
29	אדם	ah-DAHM	person
30	לדעת	lah-DAH-aht	know
31	להגיד	leh-hah-GEED	say
32	לעשות	lah-ah-SOHT	do
33	ללכת	lah-LEKH-et	go
34	לראות	leer-OHT	see
35	לתת	lah-TET	give
36	חדש	khah-DAHSH	new
37	דבר	dah-VAHR	thing
38	הרבה	har-BEH	many
39	שניים	SHNAH-yeem	two
40	ראשון	ree-SHOHN	first
41	לרצות	leer-TSOHT	want
42	איפה	AY-foh	where
43	למה	LAH-mah	why
44	אז	ahz	then
45	שם	shahm	there
46	יחד	YAH-khad	together
47	עבודה	ah-voh-DAH	work
48	חיים	khah-YEEM	life
49	עכשיו	ahkh-SHAHV	now
50	אחר	ah-KHER	other
51	הם	hem	they (masculine)
52	אם	eem	if (condition)
53	אין	eyn	there is not
54	אל	el	to, toward
55	עד	ahd	until
56	לפני	leef-NEY	before
57	אחרי	ah-khah-REY	after
58	בין	beyn	between
59	כך	kahkh	so, thus
60	כאשר	kah-ah-SHER	when (at the time that)
61	יותר	yoh-TER	more
62	מאוד	meh-OHD	very
63	יכול	yah-KHOHL	can, be able
64	צריך	tsah-REEKH	need to, must
65	משהו	MAH-sheh-hoo	something
66	מישהו	MEE-sheh-hoo	someone
67	פעם	PAH-ahm	time (occasion); once
68	לבוא	lah-VOH	come
69	לקחת	lah-KAH-khat	take
70	לחשוב	lahkh-SHOHV	think
71	לדבר	leh-dah-BER	speak, talk
72	למצוא	leem-TSOH	find
73	לשים	lah-SEEM	put
74	לבקש	leh-vah-KESH	ask for, request
75	לשאול	leesh-OHL	ask (a question)
76	לעזור	lah-ah-ZOHR	help
77	להתחיל	leh-haht-KHEEL	start, begin
78	לגור	lah-GOOR	live, reside
79	ללמוד	leel-MOHD	learn, study
80	לקרוא	leek-ROH	read; call
81	לכתוב	leekh-TOHV	write
82	לאכול	leh-eh-KHOHL	eat
83	לאהוב	leh-eh-HOHV	love
84	בית	BAH-yeet	house
85	ילד	YEH-led	child
86	אישה	ee-SHAH	woman
87	איש	eesh	man
88	מקום	mah-KOHM	place
89	עולם	oh-LAHM	world
90	עיר	eer	city
91	דרך	DEH-rekh	way, road
92	מילה	mee-LAH	word
93	שאלה	sheh-eh-LAH	question
94	מים	MAH-yeem	water
95	לילה	LAHY-lah	night
96	בוקר	BOH-ker	morning
97	שבוע	shah-VOO-ah	week
98	חודש	KHOH-desh	month
99	קטן	kah-TAHN	small
100	יפה	yah-FEH	beautiful, pretty

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Hebrew corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

Turn this list into flashcards Learn Hebrew online How spaced repetition works

Frequently asked questions about Hebrew words

How many Hebrew words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Hebrew?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Hebrew word list come from?

From published Hebrew word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.