this topic has come up here at least once before (see ancien regime); but that pointed to words such as: and, the, you, and so on. but what about the most common Nouns?
before you read on, take a shot at this, or at least try to think of some categories.

according to the (probably dated) American Heritage Word Frequency Book the five most common nouns in English are: time, people, way, water, and words. a couple of observations: time, people and words ring true -- I don't get the same feeling with water and certainly no way; and what's surprising is that these are in the main such abstract terms.

I find this inquiry somehow fascinating. All the words could be abstract nouns depending upon context; however, four of them could be concrete nouns, also depending upon context. There is only one of them that I cannot figure out a context in which it could be viewed as a concrete noun, unless, of course, you capitalized it.

Have you thought about the metaphysical import of these five words?

http://www.wordcount.org/main.php

I know we talked about this site before.

I gqther it's just a brute force analysis of lots and lots and then some more texts in English to arrive at the hierarchy of the most used words.

It's possible to use this list to construct entire paragraphs with nothing more than five-number sequences, assuming that the first 9,999 words on the list have their serial number zero-filled to the left. And unless you know what the key is, it would be an unbreakable code or cypher.

But some words are used for verbs, nouns, adjectives, which changes their place in the hierarchy. If you could go through those texts and isolate time people and water uses to restrict to nouns you would have totally different placement.


TEd

"Have you thought about the metaphysical import
of these five words?" ~ Wordwind

Not until now Wordwind.
And if for only your singular insight into the nature
of the first five regular words, to me
you will be a treasure in the Awad trove forever.

Way to go! Without a "way" the four other most frequently used words would be meaningless.

I think that the inclusion of the term in the top five words used by those who speak English reflects an awareness of that state of being.
And if not it still makes a good point.

Thank you.

consider the SNL influence.

no way!
way!
no way!
way!
no way!
way!
(and so it goes)