"The Reading Teachers Book of Lists" claims that the first 25 words make up about one-third of all printed material in English, and that the first 100 make up about one-half of all written material.
ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ iː d ɪ ŋ WORD_BOUNDARY t iː t̠ʃ ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY b ʊ k WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY l ɪ s t s WORD_BOUNDARY k l eɪ m z WORD_BOUNDARY ð æ t ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY f ɜː s t WORD_BOUNDARY t w ɛ n t i WORD_BOUNDARY f aɪ v WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY m eɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ p WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ b aʊ t WORD_BOUNDARY w ʌ n θ ɜː d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ l WORD_BOUNDARY p ɹ ɪ n t ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY m ə t ɪ ɹ i ə l WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ ŋ ɡ l ɪ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY æ n d WORD_BOUNDARY ð æ t ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY f ɜː s t WORD_BOUNDARY w ʌ n h ʌ n d ɹ ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY m eɪ k WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ p WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ b aʊ t WORD_BOUNDARY w ʌ n h æ f WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY ɔ l WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ ɪ t ə n WORD_BOUNDARY m ə t ɪ ɹ i ə l WORD_BOUNDARY