The 100 Most Common Hindi Words

These are the 100 most common Hindi words, ranked by how often they appear in real Hindi 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	का	kah	of
2	में	mehn	in
3	और	owr	and
4	को	koh	to
5	से	seh	from
6	पर	par	on
7	यह	yeh	this
8	वह	voh	that
9	ने	neh	(ergative marker)
10	भी	bhee	also
11	नहीं	nah-heen	no
12	तो	toh	so, then (in that case)
13	ही	hee	only
14	कि	ki	that (conjunction)
15	मैं	mayn	I
16	तुम	toom	you (informal)
17	आप	ahp	you (formal)
18	हम	ham	we
19	क्या	kyah	what
20	एक	ek	one
21	अपना	AHP-nah	own
22	साल	sahl	year
23	समय	sah-MAY	time
24	दिन	din	day
25	अच्छा	ach-CHHAH	good
26	बड़ा	bah-RAH	large
27	आदमी	AHD-mee	man
28	जानना	JAHN-nah	know
29	कहना	KEH-nah	say
30	करना	kar-NAH	do
31	जाना	jah-NAH	go
32	देखना	DEKH-nah	look
33	देना	deh-NAH	give
34	नया	nah-YAH	new
35	चीज़	cheez	thing
36	बहुत	bah-HOOT	very
37	दो	doh	two
38	पहला	PEH-lah	first
39	चाहना	CHAH-nah	want
40	कहाँ	kah-HAHN	where
41	क्यों	kyohn	why
42	फिर	phir	then (next), again
43	वहाँ	vah-HAHN	there
44	साथ	sahth	with
45	काम	kahm	work
46	जीवन	JEE-van	life
47	अब	ahb	now
48	दूसरा	DOOS-rah	second
49	लेकिन	LEH-kin	but
50	होना	hoh-NAH	be
51	जो	joh	who, which (relative pronoun)
52	कोई	KOH-ee	someone, any
53	कुछ	koochh	some, something
54	या	yah	or (alternative)
55	सकना	sak-NAH	can, be able to
56	रहना	REH-nah	stay, remain
57	जब	jab	when (relative)
58	तब	tab	then (at that time)
59	अगर	AH-gar	if
60	तक	tak	until, up to
61	बाद	bahd	after, later
62	लिए	lee-YEH	for (purpose)
63	वाला	VAH-lah	one who, the X one (attributive marker)
64	बात	baht	matter, talk
65	लोग	lohg	people, persons
66	आना	ah-NAH	come, move toward
67	लेना	leh-NAH	take
68	मिलना	MIL-nah	meet; be received
69	लगना	LAG-nah	seem, feel like
70	बनाना	bah-NAH-nah	make, create
71	बनना	BAN-nah	become
72	रखना	RAKH-nah	keep, put
73	पाना	pah-NAH	get, obtain
74	घर	ghar	house, home
75	नाम	nahm	name
76	हाथ	hahth	hand
77	पानी	PAH-nee	water
78	देश	desh	country
79	सरकार	sar-KAHR	government
80	बार	bahr	time (occasion)
81	तरह	tah-RAH	way, manner
82	जगह	jah-GAH	place, location
83	दुनिया	doo-nee-YAH	world
84	सब	sab	all, everything
85	कई	kah-EE	several, many
86	हर	har	every, each
87	अन्य	AHN-yah	other
88	ऐसा	AY-sah	such, like this
89	कैसे	KAY-seh	how (question word)
90	कौन	kown	who (question word)
91	जैसे	JAY-seh	as, like
92	क्योंकि	KYOHN-ki	because
93	तीन	teen	the number 3
94	अधिक	AH-dhik	more, a greater amount
95	कम	kam	little, few (small amount)
96	सोचना	SOHCH-nah	think
97	समझना	sah-MAJH-nah	understand
98	बोलना	BOHL-nah	speak
99	सुनना	SOON-nah	hear
100	चलना	CHAL-nah	walk, move

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

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

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Frequently asked questions about Hindi words

How many Hindi 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 Hindi?

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 Hindi word list come from?

From published Hindi 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.