Macmillan Dictionary 7500 Words List Jun 2026

In this article, we will break down what this list is, why it is based on serious science (not guesswork), how it differs from other word lists, and—most importantly—how you can use it to achieve true fluency.

):** Very common words that fall within the next 2,500. Macmillan Dictionary 7500 Words List

In Macmillan dictionaries, these 7,500 words are highlighted in to distinguish them from the thousands of "black" words used primarily for reference. They are further categorized into three frequency bands using a star system based on corpus research: Three Stars ( ): * The most common 2,500 words in English. In this article, we will break down what

These are common, but not essential for basic survival. They often include specific nouns, adjectives, and less common verbs. They are further categorized into three frequency bands

Macmillan Dictionary 7500 Words List is a curated "core vocabulary" identified as the most frequent and essential words for advanced English learners.

Research suggests that to read an unsimplified text comfortably, a reader needs to know about 95% to 98% of the words on the page. If you know the 7,500 most frequent words, you will likely hit that threshold for most newspapers, novels, and online articles. The occasional unknown word (a black word) will be surmountable through context clues, rather than halting your reading entirely.