body: I am currently interested in doing some research performing various measurements and algorithms on the most common words in the English language. I have found a few good word lists online that would be suitable, but I am concerned that they may be subject to copyright and would like to be sure about their status before I use them. The lists are in the form of a simple text file with one word per line.
  
  
  I understand that collections of words such as dictionaries are subject to copyright because they contain a large amount of words and their definitions which can be considered to require original work and creativity, but what about just words without any definitions or additional information?
  
  
  I have seen [this other Law Stack Exchange question](https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6597/copyright-fair-use-and-online-dictionaries-translations-word-list?rq=1), which mentions lists of words, but the author seems to have been interested in also using some short definitions, and I am not certain the answer refers to plain word lists.
  
  
  Is a list of common words copyrightable? If so, would it still be considered fair use to use the word list to generate data not related to the words themselves?
  
  
  
title: Is a list of the most common English words copyrightable under US law?