Little Women
Louisa May Alcott · 1868
80%of this book is inside a 1600-word core English vocabulary
189,589words in the book
11,186different words
7,985beyond the core
Ranked #22 of 32 — easiest first.
The words to learn first
The most common words in this book that fall outside the core vocabulary. Names are left out; these are the ones that actually repay learning before you start.
- shall249×
- till190×
- upon176×
- ever174×
- oh138×
- sat133×
- wish131×
- pretty122×
- lady121×
- miss110×
- glad97×
- gentleman94×
- fine85×
- stood85×
- mean83×
- pleasant83×
- spite79×
- tone79×
- course77×
- fun69×
How it starts
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. “It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress. “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff. “We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.
Read it sentence by sentence
Btelo English plays Little Women one sentence at a time, highlighting each word as it is spoken, with a tap on any word opening its dictionary card. The full text is also free at Project Gutenberg if you would rather read it straight through.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain. The vocabulary analysis is ours.