The most common Latin words of the Mass

If you learn any Latin for Mass, start here. These are the words that appear most often in the Mass texts the app teaches, from the 1962 Missal. Each one is given with its English meaning and the number of times it appears.

This is a sample of the 643 root words in the app, which teaches all of them. Tap a word to hear it.

The forty most common words

Most common first
Latin	Meaning	Times
et	and	554
in	in, on, into	274
tuus	your (one person)	181
Dominus	Lord	161
qui	who, which	158
Deus	God	145
tu	you (one person)	132
sanctus	holy	129
meus	my	114
sum	to be (est: is)	110
noster	our	105
ad	to, towards	86
omnis	all, every	85
nos	we, us	83
ego	I (me: me)	79
is	he, that one (ejus: his)	74
amen	amen, so be it	70
per	through	66
ut	that, so that	66
alleluia	alleluia, praise the Lord	63
spiritus	spirit	63
non	not	61
hic	this	61
pater	father	57
cum	with	56
saeculum	age, world	52
Christus	Christ	40
suus	his own, her own, their own	40
ille	that, he	37
vos	you (more than one)	36
de	from, about	34
filius	son	34
terra	earth, land	33
ex	out of, from	31
omnipotens	almighty	31
gloria	glory	30
manus	hand	30
beatus	blessed	30
pro	for, on behalf of	29
Iesus	Jesus	26

Counts are the app's own tally across the Mass texts it teaches, the Order of Mass and selected Propers of the 1962 Missal, with every form of a word counted under its root. So Dómini, Dóminum and Dómine all count towards Dominus. The audio is AI-generated.

Why a short list goes a long way

A small number of words does most of the work in any language, and the Mass is no different. Forty words will not let you translate a Collect, but they will let you hear where you are: who is being addressed, who is speaking, and what is being asked.

Reading a list is one thing. Remembering it on Sunday is another, and the flashcards are for that. Try five on the home page, no account needed.

Try five free cards