The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Portuguese 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 Portuguese flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Portuguese words, like tempo, homem, mulher, 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 Portuguese words · Updated July 2026
| Portuguese | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tempo | time; weather | Não tenho tempo agora. |
| homem | man | Aquele homem é meu pai. |
| mulher | woman; wife | A mulher entrou na loja. |
| dia | day | Hoje está um bom dia. |
| vida | life | A vida é bela. |
| mundo | world | Quero conhecer o mundo. |
| água | water | Bebe mais água. |
| casa | house, home | Vou para casa agora. |
| mão | hand | Levanta a mão. |
| olho | eye | Entrou-me algo no olho. |
| criança | child | A criança brinca no jardim. |
| ano | year | No ano passado viajei para Espanha. |
| amor | love | O amor muda tudo. |
| comer | to eat | Vamos comer alguma coisa. |
| falar | to speak, to talk | Preciso de falar contigo. |
| fazer | to do, to make | O que vais fazer hoje? |
| querer | to want | Não sei o que quero. |
| bom | good | Este livro é muito bom. |
| grande | big, large | Eles vivem numa casa grande. |
| pequeno | small, little | Têm um cão pequeno. |
| cabeça | head | Estou com dor de cabeça. |
| gente | people; we (informal) | Havia muita gente na festa. |
| enquanto | while | Leio um livro enquanto espero. |
| arma | weapon, gun | A polícia encontrou a arma. |
| perto | near, close | A loja fica perto daqui. |
| médico | doctor | Preciso de ir ao médico. |
| prisão | prison; arrest | O ladrão foi levado para a prisão. |
| sentido | meaning, sense; direction | A frase não faz sentido. |
| apanhar | to catch, to pick up; to get | Vou apanhar o autocarro. |
| vítima | victim | A vítima chamou a polícia. |
| alma | soul | Ela tem uma alma generosa. |
| carne | meat; flesh | Não como carne vermelha. |
| conselho | advice; council | Preciso de um bom conselho. |
| estrela | star | A primeira estrela apareceu no céu. |
| peixe | fish | Comemos peixe fresco ao jantar. |
| jornal | newspaper | Leio o jornal todas as manhãs. |
| árvores | trees | O parque tem muitas árvores. |
| provável | likely, probable | É provável que chova amanhã. |
| sessão | session; showing | A sessão de cinema começa às oito. |
| noivo | fiancé; groom | O noivo estava muito nervoso. |
| engano | mistake, error | Foi tudo um engano. |
| imaginação | imagination | A criança tem muita imaginação. |
| bateria | battery; drums | A bateria do telemóvel acabou. |
| manteiga | butter | Passei manteiga no pão. |
| termo | term; thermos flask | Não conheço esse termo técnico. |
| guiar | to guide; to drive | Ele vai guiar o grupo pela cidade. |
| piso | floor; flooring | O apartamento fica no terceiro piso. |
| ausência | absence | A sua ausência foi notada. |
| colina | hill | A casa fica no topo da colina. |
| consultório | doctor's office, practice | O consultório abre às nove. |
| tímido | shy, timid | O menino é muito tímido. |
| cavalaria | cavalry | A cavalaria avançou pelo campo. |
| blusa | blouse, top | Ela comprou uma blusa azul. |
| balões | balloons | As crianças soltaram balões coloridos. |
| propaganda | advertising; propaganda | A propaganda passa antes do filme. |
| surpreender | to surprise | Quero surpreender a minha mãe. |
| injustiça | injustice | Ele lutou contra a injustiça. |
| gelatina | jelly, gelatin | As crianças adoram gelatina. |
| cenoura | carrot | Adiciona uma cenoura à sopa. |
| colheres | spoons | Preciso de duas colheres de açúcar. |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Portuguese 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 Portuguese. 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 Portuguese books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Portuguese CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Portuguese? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Portuguese 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 Portuguese 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 Portuguese, 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 Portuguese 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 Portuguese 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.