The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common German words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best German flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common German words, like Zeit, Mensch, Frau, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common German words · Updated July 2026
| German | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Zeit | time | Ich habe keine Zeit. |
| Mensch | human, person | Jeder Mensch ist anders. |
| Frau | woman; wife; Mrs | Die Frau wartet an der Tür. |
| Mann | man; husband | Der Mann liest die Zeitung. |
| Tag | day | Heute ist ein schöner Tag. |
| Leben | life | Das Leben ist kurz. |
| Welt | world | Ich möchte die Welt sehen. |
| Wasser | water | Ich trinke ein Glas Wasser. |
| Haus | house, home | Das Haus ist sehr groß. |
| Hand | hand | Gib mir deine Hand. |
| Kind | child | Das Kind spielt im Garten. |
| Jahr | year | Nächstes Jahr reise ich nach Japan. |
| essen | to eat | Wir essen um sieben Uhr. |
| sprechen | to speak, to talk | Ich möchte mit dir sprechen. |
| gehen | to go, to walk | Wir gehen jetzt nach Hause. |
| machen | to do, to make | Ich muss noch die Arbeit machen. |
| gut | good, well | Das Essen schmeckt gut. |
| groß | big, tall, great | Der Baum ist sehr groß. |
| klein | small, little | Das Zimmer ist klein. |
| lieben | to love | Ich liebe dich. |
| wieder | again | Ich rufe dich später wieder an. |
| Vater | father | Mein Vater arbeitet im Garten. |
| nehmen | to take | Ich nehme den Zug um acht. |
| echt | real, genuine; really | Ist dieser Ring echt? |
| Augen | eyes | Sie hat schöne blaue Augen. |
| ehrlich | honest, honestly | Sei bitte ehrlich zu mir. |
| Tage | days | Wir bleiben drei Tage in Berlin. |
| bleibt | stays, remains | Er bleibt heute zu Hause. |
| kaufen | to buy | Ich möchte ein Auto kaufen. |
| Person | person | Nur eine Person darf hinein. |
| behalten | to keep | Du kannst das Buch behalten. |
| neu | new | Sie hat ein neues Kleid. |
| antworten | to answer, to reply | Bitte antworten Sie mir bald. |
| Erfahrung | experience | Er hat viel Erfahrung im Beruf. |
| Angriff | attack | Der Angriff kam in der Nacht. |
| Ohren | ears | Der Hund hat große Ohren. |
| Schwert | sword | Der Ritter zog sein Schwert. |
| Knie | knee | Mein Knie tut weh. |
| raten | to guess; to advise | Ich kann nur raten. |
| Aussage | statement, testimony | Seine Aussage war widersprüchlich. |
| scharf | sharp; spicy | Das Messer ist sehr scharf. |
| Uniform | uniform | Der Polizist trägt eine Uniform. |
| Pfarrer | priest, pastor, vicar | Der Pfarrer hielt eine Predigt. |
| Versicherung | insurance | Ich habe eine neue Versicherung abgeschlossen. |
| gemütlich | cozy, comfortable | Das Wohnzimmer ist sehr gemütlich. |
| Trauer | grief, mourning | Sie trägt Schwarz aus Trauer. |
| zurückgehen | to go back, to return | Wir müssen zum Auto zurückgehen. |
| Momente | moments | Es gibt Momente, die man nie vergisst. |
| bewachen | to guard | Zwei Soldaten bewachen das Tor. |
| binden | to tie, to bind | Er kann seine Schuhe schon binden. |
| Konzentration | concentration | Die Aufgabe erfordert volle Konzentration. |
| Vollmond | full moon | Heute Nacht ist Vollmond. |
| gelangweilt | bored | Die Kinder waren im Unterricht gelangweilt. |
| vernünftige | sensible, reasonable | Triff bitte eine vernünftige Entscheidung. |
| erweitern | to expand, to widen | Wir wollen unser Geschäft erweitern. |
| liebevoll | loving, affectionate | Sie ist eine liebevolle Mutter. |
| Migräne | migraine | Ich habe seit heute Morgen Migräne. |
| zornig | angry, furious | Er wurde plötzlich zornig. |
| Blüten | blossoms, flowers | Im Frühling öffnen sich die Blüten. |
| Melone | melon | Im Sommer esse ich gern Melone. |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in German with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday German. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best German books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the German CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
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Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency German words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the German word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use German, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday German text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real German at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.