To ascertain what the most common or basic syllables were, 5,000 of the most frequent words (derived from the American Heritage List) were syllabicated graphemically. In the resulting computer assembled inventory, 3,402 separate or distinct syllables had frequencies of occurrence ranging from 1 to 230. Monosyllabic and two-syllable words each accounted for 40% of the 5,000 commonest words. Three-syllable words comprised 15% of the list; four-syllable words, 4%; five-syllable words, less than 1%; and six-syllable words were extremely rare. From this analysis, an alphabetical list of the top 10% of the syllables was developed. This knowledge should aid in the preparation of curriculum materials--especially for reading and spelling instruction--and serve as a data base for linguistic and educational research. (Author/RL)