| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的[pi2 ge2 de5] "one made of leather" or 跑堂兒的|跑堂儿的[pao3 tang2 r5 de5] "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的[xin1 de5] "new one"); also pr. [di4] or [di5] in poetry and songs; really and truly; a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士[di1 shi4]); (bound form) bull's-eye; target | 307 | Lv 1 |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit | 77 | Lv 1 |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) | 71 | Lv 1 |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] | 56 | Lv 1 |
| 把 | bǎ | to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the object before the verb: 把[ba3] + {noun} + {verb}); handle | 52 | Lv 1 |
| 凡 | fán | ordinary; commonplace; mundane; temporal; of the material world (as opposed to supernatural or immortal levels); every; all; whatever; altogether; gist; outline; note of Chinese musical scale; variant of 凡[fan2] | 46 | Lv 120 |
| 特 | tè | special; unique; distinguished; especially; unusual; very; abbr. for 特克斯[te4 ke4 si1], tex | 46 | Lv 29 |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- | 45 | Lv 1 |
| 生命 | shēng mìng | life (as the characteristic of living beings); living being; creature (CL:個|个[ge4],條|条[tiao2]) | 43 | Lv 7 |
| 這 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (coll.) this; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) | 39 | Lv 1 |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) | 36 | Lv 1 |
| 與 | yǔ | and; to give; together with; to take part in; variant of 歟|欤[yu2] | 35 | Lv 5 |
| 人類 | rén lèi | humanity; human race; mankind | 33 | Lv 10 |
| 中 | zhōng | within; among; in; middle; center; while (doing sth); during; (dialect) OK; all right; to hit (a target); to be struck by (a bullet, illness etc); to win (a prize or lottery); (bound form) China; Chinese; surname Zhong | 32 | Lv 2 |
| 被 | bèi | quilt; to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb); (since c. 2009) (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes (as in 被旅遊|被旅游[bei4 lu : 3 you2] to "go on a trip") | 32 | Lv 1 |
| 基因體 | jī yīn tǐ | genome (Tw) | 29 | Unranked |
| 也 | yě | also; too; as well; (not ...) either; (used after a verbal or nominal expression X to indicate that X is an extreme or unexpected case) even (X); (literary) particle having functions similar to 啊[a5]; surname Ye | 27 | Lv 1 |
| 細胞 | xì bāo | cell (biology) | 26 | Lv 42 |
| 一個 | yī gè | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) | 25 | Lv 1 |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); to finish; (used with 得[de2] or 不[bu4] after a verb to express (im)possibility, as in 忘不了[wang4 bu5 liao3] "cannot forget"); (literary) (usually followed by a negative such as 無|无[wu2] or 不[bu4]) completely (not); entirely (not); (not) in the least; (of eyes) bright; clear-sighted; to understand clearly; to understand clearly (variant of 瞭|了[liao3]); unofficial variant of 瞭[liao4] | 23 | Lv 1 |